This Is The County In The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metro Area With The Least COVID-19

By Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. - Chicago

2021-09-05

With slowing vaccination rates and the emergence of the delta variant, COVID-19 continues to spread through the United States. To date, 39,091,213 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 635,606 have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metropolitan area, which covers parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, a total of 1,082,368 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 11,350 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 11,948 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Chicago metro area comprises 14 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Newton County in Indiana has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,290 infections in Newton County, or 9,202 for every 100,000 people.

Though Newton County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Chicago metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 285 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Newton County, above the 183 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Sept. 2, 2021.

These are all the counties in Indiana where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).

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This story was originally published by 24/7 Wall St., a news organization that produces real-time business commentary and data-driven reporting for state and local markets across the country.