Substantial fall in number of rural COVID-19 deaths, new infections

After setting new records in December and early January, COVID-19 death rates and new infection rates are dropping substantially in rural (nonmetropolitan) counties. In the past week alone (February 14–20), the number of deaths in rural counties decreased by one third (from hovering around 3,600 down to 2,404 deaths). The number of new COVID-19 cases has dropped by 75% from the peak at 230,000 new infections the first week of January down to 56,296 mid-February. The rural death rate remains higher than the urban (metropolitan) rate, although both rates have dropped by about a third in the last week. #covid-19 #rural