COVID-19: These Are the Only 80 Counties Where No One Had Died

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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COVID-19: These Are the Only 80 Counties Where No One Had Died

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COVID-19 has killed 383,290 people in America, according to the Microsoft Bing COVID-19 Tracker. One academic forecast expects the spread of the disease could drive the figure to over 700,000 by the end of March. There are 3,141 counties in America, and at least one person has died in the great majority of them.

In the hardest-hit counties, particularly in and around New York City, Los Angeles and Houston, coronavirus deaths number in the thousands. In Queens County, part of New York City, the number is already 5,507. In Kings County, which contains the borough of Brooklyn, also in New York City, the figure currently is 5,573. Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the country, has had 12,674 deaths. Cook County, home of Chicago, has had 8,841.

However, 80 counties have had no COVID-19 deaths at all as of January 11. Some are in states that have had very few deaths, like Vermont. Others are very small counties, based on population, in hard-hit states like Kansas.

It is not surprising that the counties with no deaths have small populations. The largest is Dukes County, Massachusetts. Its population is 17,313. According to the Census Bureau, almost 90% of the population is white, much higher than the national average. Almost 5% is Black. The median home value is $699,500, well more than twice the national average. Household income is $71,811, also above the national. The poverty rate is a relatively low 7.3%. Dukes County encompasses the entire island of Martha’s Vineyard.

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Next on the list, San Juan County, Washington, has a population of 16,473. Third, Estill County, Kentucky has a population of 14,313. The geographic spread among the three counties shows there is little relationship between COVID-19 deaths and location.

Four of the counties on the list have posted less than 10 confirmed COVID-19 cases. These are Harding County in New Mexico, Skagway County in Alaska, and King and Loving Counties in Texas. Loving has recorded only one confirmed case.

Twenty-two of the counties on the list have populations of less than 1,000.

This is by far the hardest-hit state now.

This is America’s worst hotspot.

These are the 80 counties where no one has died from COVID-19:

County State Population Cases Deaths
Dukes Massachusetts 17,313 606 0
San Juan Washington 16,473 83 0
Estill Kentucky 14,313 753 0
Morgan Kentucky 13,285 1,359 0
Archuleta Colorado 12,908 543 0
Powell Kentucky 12,321 764 0
Nome Alaska 9,925 201 0
Sitka City Alaska 8,738 164 0
Webster West Virginia 8,518 195 0
San Miguel Colorado 7,968 433 0
Anderson Kansas 7,852 568 0
Northwest Arctic Alaska 7,734 349 0
Lake Colorado 7,585 461 0
Calhoun West Virginia 7,396 174 0
Grand Isle Vermont 6,965 70 0
Luce Michigan 6,364 196 0
Mitchell Kansas 6,222 478 0
Essex Vermont 6,208 101 0
Ottawa Kansas 5,902 333 0
Aleutians West Alaska 5,750 106 0
Cook Minnesota 5,311 111 0
Custer Colorado 4,640 154 0
Bath Virginia 4,393 209 0
Mineral Montana 4,211 197 0
Wahkiakum Washington 4,189 57 0
Osborne Kansas 3,603 137 0
Harlan Nebraska 3,438 184 0
Aleutians East Alaska 3,425 25 0
Woodson Kansas 3,170 84 0
Rush Kansas 3,102 294 0
Sierra California 2,930 32 0
Edwards Kansas 2,925 108 0
Logan Kansas 2,810 78 0
Harmon Oklahoma 2,721 245 0
Hamilton Kansas 2,616 145 0
Elk Kansas 2,562 47 0
Haines Alaska 2,518 17 0
Sheridan Kansas 2,506 352 0
Wrangell City Alaska 2,484 22 0
Denali Alaska 2,232 45 0
Highland Virginia 2,214 62 0
Wichita Kansas 2,143 131 0
De Baca New Mexico 2,060 112 0
Judith Basin Montana 1,951 79 0
Deuel Nebraska 1,894 77 0
Golden Valley North Dakota 1,882 215 0
Dolores Colorado 1,841 55 0
Eureka Nevada 1,830 42 0
Taliaferro Georgia 1,665 69 0
McCone Montana 1,630 150 0
Sherman Oregon 1,605 47 0
Wallace Kansas 1,575 107 0
Jackson Colorado 1,296 44 0
Sioux Nebraska 1,266 28 0
Greeley Kansas 1,200 39 0
Alpine California 1,146 70 0
Clark Idaho 1,077 53 0
Skagway Alaska 1,061 8 0
Esmeralda Nevada 981 34 0
Billings North Dakota 946 51 0
Hayes Nebraska 943 55 0
Logan Nebraska 886 69 0
Camas Idaho 886 57 0
Hinsdale Colorado 878 15 0
Wheeler Nebraska 822 28 0
Keya Paha Nebraska 792 38 0
Jones South Dakota 735 71 0
Golden Valley Montana 724 47 0
Slope North Dakota 704 30 0
Banner Nebraska 696 26 0
Borden Texas 665 18 0
Thomas Nebraska 645 48 0
Loup Nebraska 585 37 0
San Juan Colorado 544 34 0
Blaine Nebraska 480 17 0
Harding New Mexico 459 8 0
McPherson Nebraska 454 22 0
Arthur Nebraska 418 18 0
King Texas 228 9 0
Loving Texas 102 1 0

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Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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