Special Report

This Is the County in the Topeka, KS Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: July 20, 2022 4:45 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 Topeka metropolitan area, located in Kansas, a total of 66,836 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 28,653 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 Topeka than they are nationwide, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Topeka metro area comprises five counties or county equivalents — and of them, Wabaunsee County in Kansas has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,706 confirmed infections in Wabaunsee County, or 24,768 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 334 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Wabaunsee County, below the 357 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Topeka metro area.

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

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