Special Report

This Is the County in the Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: July 20, 2022 5:30 am

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 Memphis metropolitan area, which covers parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas, a total of 380,161 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 28,244 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 Memphis, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Memphis metro area comprises nine counties or county equivalents — and of them, Tunica County in Mississippi has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 2,723 confirmed infections in Tunica County, or 26,775 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 472 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Tunica County, above the 372 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Memphis metro area.

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

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