The acceleration in the spread of COVID-19 in the United States in the past month is nothing short of astonishing. Confirmed cases now routinely rise by over 200,000 a day, on the way to what experts think will be 300,000. Fatal cases per day have risen to over 3,000, and experts fear that could surge over the course of January. Currently, total confirmed cases in the United States stand at 17,287,875 and fatalities at 313,797.

Some parts of the country are much worse off than others. The states in the upper Midwest now are taking the brunt of the disease. This includes Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North and South Dakota and Wyoming. Case counts in states where the growth has slowed also have picked up. This includes, in particular, New York, which was hit worse than any other state in terms of deaths during a horrible period from late March through April. The state still has more fatal cases than any other at 35,647.

The effects of the disease on any area are measured in several ways. Among the most widely followed are confirmed cases per 100,000 people. This shows how deeply COVID-19 has spread in any given county. It also can be a sign of likely future spread because such a large portion of the population already has been affected.

Until vaccines can slow and eventually start to eliminate COVID-19, people have to be on guard for the spread of the disease in their own communities. 24/7 Wall St. has looked at each state to determine the counties where the confirmed cases per 100,000 are the highest. We also have shown a more grim figure, which is deaths per 100,000.

The ways that people can protect themselves regardless of the intensity of the spread of the disease have changed very little since the start of the pandemic. Wear masks, social distance, wash hands and when talking stay outside as much as possible. Just as important, do not gather inside in groups of more than a few people.

This list shows the five counties in each state where the cases per 100,000 are the highest. It provides a picture of which areas in a state are most dangerous in terms of the spread of the disease.

Alabama
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Franklin	31,542	2,923	34	9,267.01	1,163.19
Clarke	24,387	2,110	24	8,652.15	1,137.44
Jackson	52,094	4,505	28	8,647.83	621.53
Lowndes	10,236	876	31	8,558.03	3,538.81
DeKalb	71,200	6,068	50	8,522.47	823.99
Alaska
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Bethel	18,040	1,613	8	8,941.24	495.97
Anchorage	296,112	16,511	103	5,575.93	623.83
Kusilvak	8,198	429	3	5,232.98	699.30
Northwest Arctic	7,734	348	0	4,499.61	0.00
North Slope	9,797	431	2	4,399.31	464.04
Arizona
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Yuma	207,829	23,447	435	11,281.87	1,855.25
Santa Cruz	46,584	5,097	85	10,941.52	1,667.65
Apache	71,522	6,622	212	9,258.69	3,201.45
Navajo	108,705	9,980	292	9,180.81	2,925.85
Graham	37,879	2,673	41	7,056.68	1,533.86
Arkansas
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Lincoln	13,695	2,696	20	19,686.02	741.84
Jackson	17,225	2,477	14	14,380.26	565.20
Lee	9,398	1,340	20	14,258.35	1,492.54
Sevier	17,193	1,910	20	11,109.17	1,047.12
Chicot	10,826	1,327	29	12,257.53	2,185.38
California
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Imperial	180,216	19,756	380	10,962.40	1,923.47
Lassen	31,185	3,378	6	10,832.13	177.62
Kings	150,075	13,652	100	9,096.78	732.49
San Bernardino	2,135,413	137,548	1,241	6,441.28	902.23
Kern	883,053	52,002	470	5,888.89	903.81
Colorado
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Crowley	5,630	1,457	10	25,879.22	686.34
Logan	21,689	2,787	49	12,849.83	1,758.16
Lincoln	5,548	694	1	12,509.01	144.09
Bent	5,809	691	4	11,895.33	578.87
Fremont	47,002	3,755	12	7,989.02	319.57
Connecticut
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Fairfield	944,348	49,422	1,612	5,233.45	3,261.71
New Haven	859,339	40,539	1,409	4,717.46	3,475.67
Hartford	894,730	39,151	1,716	4,375.73	4,383.03
Litchfield	183,031	6,270	197	3,425.65	3,141.95
Windham	116,538	3,921	48	3,364.57	1,224.18
Delaware
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Sussex	219,540	12,780	276	5,821.26	2,159.62
New Castle	555,133	27,602	411	4,972.14	1,489.02
Kent	174,822	7,442	146	4,256.90	1,961.84
Florida
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Lafayette	8,744	1,391	20	15,908.05	1,437.81
Miami-Dade	2,715,516	264,673	4,017	9,746.69	1,517.72
Union	15,239	1,333	65	8,747.29	4,876.22
Jackson	48,472	4,197	107	8,658.61	2,549.44
Suwannee	43,924	3,569	94	8,125.40	2,633.79
Georgia
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Chattahoochee	10,767	2,113	3	19,624.78	141.98
Stewart	6,042	590	17	9,764.98	2,881.36
Whitfield	103,849	9,262	105	8,918.72	1,133.66
Hall	195,961	14,848	211	7,577.02	1,421.07
Clinch	6,743	506	14	7,504.08	2,766.80
Hawaii
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Honolulu	987,638	16,543	215	1,675.01	1,299.64
Hawaii	197,658	1,748	43	884.36	2,459.95
Maui	165,281	856	17	517.91	1,985.98
Kauai	71,377	134	1	187.74	746.27
Idaho
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Madison	38,705	4,978	10	12,861.39	200.88
Cassia	23,615	2,404	20	10,179.97	831.95
Minidoka	20,615	1,913	21	9,279.65	1,097.75
Jerome	23,431	2,117	15	9,035.04	708.55
Twin Falls	83,666	7,524	109	8,992.90	1,448.70
Illinois
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Fayette	21,724	2,432	42	11,194.99	1,726.97
Cass	12,665	1,368	26	10,801.42	1,900.58
Clinton	37,628	4,040	74	10,736.69	1,831.68
Effingham	34,174	3,502	46	10,247.56	1,313.54
Lawrence	16,189	1,488	22	9,191.43	1,478.49
Indiana
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Elkhart	203,604	21,145	282	10,385.36	1,333.65
Cass	38,084	3,718	36	9,762.63	968.26
Marshall	46,595	4,086	62	8,769.18	1,517.38
Dubois	42,418	3,633	35	8,564.76	963.39
Clinton	32,301	2,703	29	8,368.16	1,072.88
Iowa
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Buena Vista	20,260	3,433	21	16,944.72	611.71
Plymouth	25,039	3,150	42	12,580.37	1,333.33
Jones	20,568	2,492	34	12,115.91	1,364.37
Sioux	34,825	4,116	39	11,819.10	947.52
Henry	19,926	2,343	20	11,758.51	853.61
Kansas
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Norton	5,486	1,106	N/A	20,160.41	N/A
Ellsworth	6,293	891	N/A	14,158.59	N/A
Sheridan	2,506	311	N/A	12,410.22	N/A
Ford	34,484	4,270	N/A	12,382.55	N/A
Seward	22,692	2,485	N/A	10,951.00	N/A
Kentucky
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Lee	6,751	1,002	17	14,842.25	1,696.61
Elliott	7,517	739	1	9,831.05	135.32
Monroe	10,634	852	18	8,012.04	2,112.68
Marion	19,232	1,371	16	7,128.74	1,167.03
Warren	126,427	8,825	83	6,980.31	940.51
Louisiana
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
East Carroll	7,225	903	14	12,498.27	1,550.39
East Feliciana	19,499	2,316	90	11,877.53	3,886.01
Madison	11,472	1,188	16	10,355.65	1,346.80
Franklin	20,322	1,877	72	9,236.30	3,835.91
Allen	25,661	2,275	71	8,865.59	3,120.88
Maine
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Androscoggin	107,444	2,057	39	1,914.49	1,895.96
Cumberland	290,944	5,281	81	1,815.13	1,533.80
York	203,102	3,536	45	1,741.00	1,272.62
Oxford	57,325	719	7	1,254.25	973.57
Franklin	30,019	356	4	1,185.92	1,123.60
Maryland
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Allegany	71,977	4,848	126	6,735.48	2,599.01
Somerset	25,737	1,504	14	5,843.73	930.85
Prince George’s	906,202	48,718	1,007	5,376.06	2,067.00
Baltimore City	614,700	28,586	635	4,650.40	2,221.37
Baltimore	827,625	34,702	841	4,192.96	2,423.49
Massachusetts
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Essex	781,024	47,846	1,560	6,126.06	3,260.46
Suffolk	791,766	46,365	1,309	5,855.90	2,823.25
Nantucket	11,101	622	0	5,603.10	0.00
Bristol	558,905	27,551	977	4,929.46	3,546.15
Hampden	469,116	21,402	979	4,562.20	4,574.34
Michigan
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Dickinson	25,570	2,045	63	7,997.65	3,080.68
Delta	36,190	2,799	67	7,734.18	2,393.71
Iron	11,212	780	37	6,956.83	4,743.59
Menominee	23,234	1,521	23	6,546.44	1,512.16
Baraga	8,507	546	28	6,418.24	5,128.21
Minnesota
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Nobles	21,839	3,417	42	15,646.32	1,229.15
Kandiyohi	42,658	5,085	48	11,920.39	943.95
Rock	9,413	978	10	10,389.89	1,022.49
Stearns	156,819	16,133	151	10,287.66	935.97
Lyon	25,839	2,630	24	10,178.41	912.55
Mississippi
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Issaquena	1,328	136	4	10,240.96	2,941.18
Neshoba	29,376	2,635	133	8,969.91	5,047.44
Bolivar	32,592	2,908	90	8,922.43	3,094.91
Montgomery	10,198	902	30	8,844.87	3,325.94
Winston	18,358	1,567	42	8,535.79	2,680.28
Missouri
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Sullivan	6,317	607	9	9,608.99	1,482.70
Cole	76,740	7,042	77	9,176.44	1,093.44
Perry	19,146	1,729	15	9,030.61	867.55
St. Francois	66,342	5,859	58	8,831.51	989.93
Moniteau	15,958	1,384	16	8,672.77	1,156.07
Montana
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Big Horn	13,376	1,973	57	14,750.30	2,889.00
Toole	4,976	660	8	13,263.67	1,212.12
Roosevelt	11,228	1,335	42	11,889.92	3,146.07
Powell	6,861	771	5	11,237.43	648.51
Rosebud	9,250	985	26	10,648.65	2,639.59
Nebraska
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Dakota	20,317	3,360	51	16,537.87	1,517.86
Colfax	10,760	1,384	17	12,862.45	1,228.32
Saline	14,288	1,658	3	11,604.14	180.94
Platte	33,063	3,390	37	10,253.15	1,091.45
Madison	35,164	3,548	35	10,089.86	986.47
Nevada
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Carson	54,467	4,028	39	7,395.30	968.22
Washoe	450,486	31,321	378	6,952.71	1,206.86
Clark	2,141,574	146,723	2,080	6,851.18	1,417.64
Elko	52,252	3,490	31	6,679.17	888.25
Lander	5,746	337	6	5,864.95	1,780.42
New Hampshire
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Hillsborough	411,087	13,356	361	3,248.95	2,702.91
Rockingham	305,129	7,906	120	2,591.04	1,517.83
Merrimack	149,452	3,314	40	2,217.43	1,207.00
Belknap	60,640	1,296	37	2,137.20	2,854.94
Strafford	128,237	2,277	19	1,775.62	834.43
New Jersey
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Passaic	504,041	36,414	1,380	7,224.41	3,789.75
Union	553,066	33,375	1,494	6,034.54	4,476.40
Hudson	668,631	38,429	1,649	5,747.42	4,291.03
Essex	793,555	42,329	2,316	5,334.10	5,471.43
Camden	507,367	24,539	746	4,836.54	3,040.06
New Mexico
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
McKinley	72,849	8,650	318	11,873.88	3,676.30
Chaves	65,459	6,019	73	9,195.07	1,212.83
Luna	24,264	2,185	36	9,005.11	1,647.60
Lea	70,126	5,791	70	8,257.99	1,208.77
Curry	50,199	3,680	37	7,330.82	1,005.43
New York
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Rockland	323,686	24,555	555	7,586.06	2,260.23
Westchester	968,815	60,540	1,581	6,248.87	2,611.50
Richmond	474,101	29,167	835	6,152.06	2,862.82
Nassau	1,356,564	72,904	2,306	5,374.17	3,163.06
Orange	378,227	20,114	470	5,317.97	2,336.68
North Carolina
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Avery	17,501	1,201	13	6,862.47	1,082.43
Sampson	63,561	4,287	56	6,744.70	1,306.27
Greene	21,008	1,368	28	6,511.81	2,046.78
Scotland	35,262	2,281	50	6,468.72	2,192.02
Duplin	59,062	3,793	63	6,422.06	1,660.95
North Dakota
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Eddy	2,313	388	6	16,774.75	1,546.39
Foster	3,290	525	19	15,957.45	3,619.05
Morton	30,544	4,473	82	14,644.45	1,833.22
Walsh	10,802	1,545	20	14,302.91	1,294.50
Burleigh	93,737	13,237	157	14,121.42	1,186.07
Ohio
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Marion	65,344	6,080	86	9,304.60	1,414.47
Pickaway	57,420	5,187	50	9,033.44	963.95
Mercer	40,806	3,613	73	8,854.09	2,020.48
Putnam	33,969	2,937	61	8,646.12	2,076.95
Darke	51,734	3,592	73	6,943.21	2,032.29
Oklahoma
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Alfalfa	5,857	805	2	13,744.24	248.45
Texas	21,121	2,750	15	13,020.22	545.45
Woodward	20,967	2,203	8	10,506.99	363.14
Okfuskee	12,115	1,216	15	10,037.14	1,233.55
Custer	29,209	2,551	21	8,733.61	823.21
Oregon
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Malheur	30,431	2,619	45	8,606.36	1,718.21
Morrow	11,215	747	7	6,660.72	937.08
Umatilla	76,898	4,881	52	6,347.37	1,065.36
Jefferson	23,143	1,147	12	4,956.14	1,046.21
Union	26,028	903	10	3,469.34	1,107.42
Pennsylvania
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Mifflin	46,362	2,872	86	6,194.73	2,994.43
Cambria	134,550	7,437	170	5,527.31	2,285.87
Blair	123,842	6,551	122	5,289.80	1,862.31
Lebanon	138,674	7,252	137	5,229.53	1,889.13
Bedford	48,611	2,509	72	5,161.38	2,869.67
Rhode Island
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Providence	634,533	51,871	N/A	8,174.67	N/A
Kent	163,861	8,436	N/A	5,148.27	N/A
Bristol	48,900	1,816	N/A	3,713.70	N/A
Washington	126,242	3,713	N/A	2,941.18	N/A
Newport	83,075	1,965	N/A	2,365.33	N/A
South Carolina
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Pickens	122,746	8,416	116	6,856.44	1,378.33
Newberry	38,068	2,473	69	6,496.27	2,790.13
Marlboro	27,131	1,700	22	6,265.90	1,294.12
Dillon	30,871	1,924	54	6,232.39	2,806.65
Greenville	498,402	30,156	450	6,050.54	1,492.24
South Dakota
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Bon Homme	6,969	1,427	21	20,476.40	1,471.62
Dewey	5,779	1,170	7	20,245.72	598.29
Buffalo	2,053	401	10	19,532.39	2,493.77
Aurora	2,759	391	7	14,171.80	1,790.28
Beadle	18,374	2,426	32	13,203.44	1,319.04
Tennessee
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Trousdale	9,573	2,041	12	21,320.38	587.95
Lake	7,526	1,321	11	17,552.48	832.70
Wayne	16,649	2,195	15	13,183.98	683.37
Haywood	17,779	1,951	31	10,973.62	1,588.93
Obion	30,520	3,227	65	10,573.39	2,014.25
Texas
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Childress	7,226	1,131	3	15,651.81	265.25
Hale	34,113	4,784	110	14,023.98	2,299.33
Crockett	3,633	478	8	13,157.17	1,673.64
Lubbock	301,454	37,528	474	12,449.00	1,263.06
Potter	120,899	14,415	210	11,923.18	1,456.82
Utah
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Utah	590,440	58,955	186	9,984.93	315.49
Wasatch	30,523	2,814	15	9,219.28	533.05
Salt Lake	1,120,805	95,917	487	8,557.87	507.73
San Juan	15,281	1,275	32	8,343.69	2,509.80
Summit	40,511	2,695	5	6,652.51	185.53
Vermont
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Washington	58,477	835	5	1,427.91	598.80
Chittenden	162,052	2,150	55	1,326.73	2,558.14
Essex	6,208	74	0	1,192.01	0.00
Orange	28,937	287	1	991.81	348.43
Orleans	26,911	247	3	917.84	1,214.57
Virginia
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Galax	6,638	690	31	10,394.70	4,492.75
Greensville	11,659	967	16	8,294.02	1,654.60
Radford	17,630	1,348	7	7,646.06	519.29
Franklin	8,211	612	17	7,453.42	2,777.78
Harrisonburg	53,391	3,905	40	7,313.97	1,024.33
Washington
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Franklin	90,660	7,789	77	8,591.44	988.57
Adams	19,452	1,489	15	7,654.74	1,007.39
Yakima	249,325	15,879	296	6,368.80	1,864.10
Whitman	48,593	2,570	25	5,288.83	972.76
Benton	194,168	10,052	150	5,176.96	1,492.24
West Virginia
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Mineral	27,278	1,900	52	6,965.32	2,736.84
Marshall	31,645	1,711	40	5,406.86	2,337.81
Grant	11,641	606	13	5,205.74	2,145.21
Ohio	42,547	2,067	29	4,858.16	1,403.00
Brooke	22,772	1,069	13	4,694.36	1,216.09
Wisconsin
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Menominee	4,579	666	9	14,544.66	1,351.35
Dodge	87,776	9,784	95	11,146.55	970.97
Jackson	20,506	2,096	6	10,221.40	286.26
Shawano	41,009	3,938	53	9,602.77	1,345.86
Brown	259,786	24,701	155	9,508.21	627.50
Wyoming
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Fremont	40,076	3,776	52	9,422.10	1,377.12
Albany	38,102	3,353	9	8,800.06	268.42
Teton	23,059	1,958	2	8,491.26	102.15
Washakie	8,129	662	11	8,143.68	1,661.63
Sheridan	30,012	2,359	13	7,860.19	551.08

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