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 Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metropolitan area, located in North Carolina, a total of 112,161 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 30,701 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 Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Hickory metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Caldwell County in North Carolina has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 23,790 confirmed infections in Caldwell County, or 29,091 for every 100,000 people.

Though Caldwell County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Hickory metro area, its per capita fatality rate is closely in line with the regional average.

There have been a total of 382 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Caldwell County, compared to 385 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metro area.

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

These are all the counties in North Carolina 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	Caldwell County, NC	29,091	23,790	382	312
2	Alexander County, NC	29,133	10,814	391	145
3	Burke County, NC	29,713	26,656	372	334
4	Catawba County, NC	32,477	50,901	393	616

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