To date, 88,027,926 Americans are confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 — and over 1 million have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Columbus metropolitan area, which covers parts of Georgia and Alabama, a total of 66,862 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 21,728 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 26,906 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Columbus is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Columbus metro area comprises five counties or county equivalents — and of them, Russell County in Alabama has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 10,863 confirmed infections in Russell County, or 18,661 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Russell County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Columbus metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 165 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Russell County, below the 367 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Columbus metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of July 17, 2022.

These are all the counties in Georgia where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).

Rank	Geography	COVID cases per 100,000 people	Total cases	Deaths per 100,000 people	Total deaths
1	Russell County, AL	18,661	10,863	165	96
2	Marion County, GA	18,741	1,590	601	51
3	Harris County, GA	18,949	6,365	348	117
4	Muscogee County, GA	20,593	40,501	429	843
5	Chattahoochee County, GA	70,057	7,543	204	22

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.