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 Huntington-Ashland metropolitan area, which covers parts of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio, a total of 114,049 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 31,836 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 Huntington-Ashland than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Huntington metro area comprises seven counties or county equivalents — and of them, Wayne County in West Virginia has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 10,414 confirmed infections in Wayne County, or 25,582 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 319 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Wayne County, below the 386 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Huntington-Ashland metro area.

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

These are all the counties in West Virginia 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	Wayne County, WV	25,582	10,414	319	130
2	Lincoln County, WV	28,129	5,929	399	84
3	Cabell County, WV	31,116	29,659	407	388
4	Lawrence County, OH	31,687	19,209	429	260
5	Putnam County, WV	31,787	18,008	330	187
6	Greenup County, KY	36,536	13,067	422	151
7	Boyd County, KY	36,936	17,763	378	182

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