Special Report

This Is the County in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metro Area with the Most Deaths from COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: July 22, 2022 5:45 am

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 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metropolitan area, which covers parts of Virginia and North Carolina, a total of 3,841 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 223 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 310 deaths have been attributed to the virus per 100,000 people.

Though deaths attributable to the virus are less common across the metro area than they are nationwide, this is not the case in some parts of the city.

The broader Virginia Beach metro area comprises 16 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Portsmouth, an independent city, has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Portsmouth stands at 356 for every 100,000 people.

Though it has the highest per capita death rate in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metro area, Portsmouth 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 Virginia where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).