Health and Healthcare

These Are the 290 Counties Where No One Has Died From COVID-19

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: November 5, 2020 9:27 am

Last Updated: November 5, 2020 11:32 am

COVID-19 has killed almost 237,000 people in America. Some academic and government models forecast the spread of the disease will drive the figure to over 300,000 by the end of 2020. 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 have been in the thousands. In Queens County, part of New York City, the number is already 5,140. In Kings County, which contains the borough of Brooklyn, also in New York City, the figure currently number is 5,133. Los Angeles County has had 7,097 deaths. Harris County, home of Houston, has had 2,841.

However, 290 counties have had no COVID-19 deaths at all. These span 35 states. In Hawaii, Montana and Nebraska, more than a third of counties within the state have not had a COVID-19 death.

Not surprisingly, the counties with no deaths are small by population count. The largest, Tompkins County in New York, has a population of 102,962. It is fairly isolated, in the Finger Lakes region, well south of Syracuse and Rochester. Cornell, an Ivy League university, is located there. However, it is mostly rural. Over 85% of the population is white Americans. Less than 4% are Black Americans, a group that has been hit hard by the disease across the country. Hispanics or Latinx, another hard-hit group, make up about 3% of the population. Tompkins County has had 660 confirmed cases.

Beyond Tompkins County is only one other county with no COVID-19 deaths and a population of over 50,000. This is Kauai County in Hawaii, with a population of 71,377. The state of Hawaii has only had 219 deaths in total, and a relatively small 15,359 confirmed cases. Confirmed cases in Kauai County have totaled 66.

One of the counties on the list has not even registered a confirmed case. It is Loving County, Texas, which has a population of 102.

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

These are the 290 counties where no one has died from COVID-19.