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 Hattiesburg metropolitan area, located in Mississippi, a total of 45,300 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 30,450 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 26,906 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Hattiesburg than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Hattiesburg metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Perry County in Mississippi has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 3,212 confirmed infections in Perry County, or 26,704 for every 100,000 people.

Though Perry County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Hattiesburg metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 532 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Perry County, above the 363 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Hattiesburg metro area.

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

These are all the counties in Mississippi 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	Perry County, MS	26,704	3,212	532	64
2	Lamar County, MS	30,381	18,600	261	160
3	Forrest County, MS	31,103	23,488	418	316

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