More than 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19 – more than the total number of Americans killed in World War I and World War II combined.

In the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metropolitan area, located in North Carolina, a total of 1,407 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 385 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 310 deaths have been attributed to the virus per 100,000 people.

The higher than average per capita COVID-19 death rate across the metro area is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Hickory metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Catawba County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Catawba County stands at 393 for every 100,000 people.

Though it has the highest per capita death rate in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metro area, Catawba County ranks among the middle 50% of all U.S. counties or county equivalents by COVID-19 death rate per capita.

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

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

Rank	Geography	Deaths per 100,000 people	Total deaths	Confirmed cases per 100,000 people	Total confirmed cases
1	Catawba County, NC	393	616	32,477	50,901
2	Alexander County, NC	391	145	29,133	10,814
3	Caldwell County, NC	382	312	29,091	23,790
4	Burke County, NC	372	334	29,713	26,656

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