Special Report

This Is the County in the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Joe Raedle / Getty Images News via Getty Images

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 Des Moines-West Des Moines metropolitan area, located in Iowa, a total of 176,732 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 27,867 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — in line with the national rate of 26,906 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are closely in line with the national per capita infection rate in Des Moines-West Des Moines, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Des Moines metro area comprises five counties or county equivalents — and of them, Madison County in Iowa has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 3,283 confirmed infections in Madison County, or 20,661 for every 100,000 people.

Though Madison County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Des Moines metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 252 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Madison County, above the 235 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Des Moines-West Des Moines metro area.

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

These are all the counties in Iowa 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 Madison County, IA 20,661 3,283 252 40
2 Guthrie County, IA 23,065 2,462 440 47
3 Warren County, IA 26,671 13,165 276 136
4 Polk County, IA 28,108 133,309 236 1,121
5 Dallas County, IA 29,181 24,513 176 148

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