Health and Healthcare

This Is the American County Where the Most People Have Died of COVID-19

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: November 3, 2020 7:52 am

As of the latest count, 9,343,238 Americans have had confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 234,856 have died from the disease. Confirmed case counts per day have risen by over 80,000 on several days in the past week. Deaths per day have moved above 1,000 in the same period. As the disease spreads more rapidly, the concern has grown that these figures will double by early next year.

Several of America’s largest counties have borne the brunt of fatal cases. None has been hit harder than Los Angeles County, where the toll has just moved above 7,000 to 7,074. This makes it the U.S. county with the most fatal cases. Los Angeles County is also the largest county in the population, with 10,105,518 residents.

Although several other counties that hold America’s largest cities have posted over 2,000 fatal cases, the only other place where county deaths are above 5,000 is in New York City, the metropolitan area that is still the hardest hit based on fatal cases. It is made up of five counties. Queens County in New York City, one of five counties that make up the city, has had 5,139 fatal cases. Kings County, which is the borough of Brooklyn, has had 5,121. Bronx County has had 3,401, and New York County, which covers the same area as Manhattan, has had 2,126.

Cook County, Illinois, is home to Chicago, and with a population of 5,180,493 is the second-largest county in America. It has posted 5,510 fatal cases. Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, has a population of 4,698,619, which puts it in third place. It has had 2,811 fatal cases. Maricopa County, Arizona, is home to Phoenix. It ranks fourth among all counties in America, with a population of 4,410,824. It has had 3,609 fatal cases.

While the broader spread of the disease, as measured by confirmed cases per 100,000, rather than fatal cases, may have quickened in areas that include North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, the raw numbers remain highest in the largest states. North Dakota, where the disease has spread most rapidly in the past several days, has 46,020 confirmed cases. While that is a high count based on its population, it remains a fraction of confirmed cases in Texas, California, Florida and New York.

In Texas, confirmed cases could reach 1 million in two weeks. It leads all states at 960,120 confirmed cases. The state has posted 18,582 deaths. California has 940,770 confirmed cases and 17,677 fatal ones. Florida has 812,063 confirmed cases and 17,043 deaths.

Among states, New York stands alone, based on the size of its fatal case count of 33,174, against 514,482 confirmed cases. Nothing matches the period from mid-March until mid-April when many of the 24,013 fatal cases in New York City occurred. Today, the city has 268,879 confirmed cases.

Los Angeles County probably will lead all counties in terms of total fatal cases as the disease spreads more rapidly. It is too far ahead of any other single county for that to change.