This is the County in the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metro Area Where COVID-19 is Growing the Slowest

© Provided by 24/7 Wall St. After adding over 48,000 new cases on Mar. 1, the U.S. now has more than 28,200,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 490,000 COVID-19-related deaths -- the highest death toll of any country.

New cases continue to rise at a steady rate. In the past week, there were an average of 22.6 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans -- essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 21.2 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people.

While COVID-19 has spread to nearly every part of the country, cities continue to be the sites of major outbreaks. Experts agree that the virus is more likely to spread in group settings where large numbers of people routinely have close contact with one another, such as colleges, nursing homes, bars, and restaurants. Metropolitan areas with a high degree of connectivity between different neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.

In the 50 largest metro areas, the incidence of coronavirus grew at an average rate of 23.4 new cases a day per 100,000 residents in the past week -- 5.2% greater than the case growth in all counties outside of metro areas.

The Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN, metro area consists of Hamilton County, Butler County, Warren County, and 13 other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 23.1 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Cincinnati residents, in line with the national figure. The metro area's average daily case growth in the most recent week is a decrease from the week prior, when there were an average of 35.3 daily new cases per 100,000 Cincinnati residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Cincinnati metro area, COVID-19 is growing the slowest in Franklin County, Indiana. There were an average of 5.6 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Franklin County during the past week, the least of the 16 counties in Cincinnati with available data.

Case growth in the Cincinnati metro area varies widely at the county level. In Grant County, for example, there were an average of 40.6 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week -- the most of any county in Cincinnati and far more than the case growth rate in Franklin County.

While Franklin County has the slowest case growth in the Cincinnati area, it does not have the lowest incidence of cases overall. As of Mar. 1, there were a total of 6,978.4 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Franklin County, the third fewest of the 16 counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 8,755.9 cases per 100,000 Americans nationwide.

In order to slow the spread of COVID-19, city and county governments have ordered the closure of thousands of consumer-facing businesses. These measures have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Franklin County, unemployment peaked at 17.9% in April 2020. As of December 2020, the county's unemployment rate was 3.1%.

To determine the county in every metropolitan area where COVID-19 is growing the slowest, 24/7 Wall St. compiled and reviewed data from state and local health departments. We ranked counties according to the average number of new daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the seven days ending Mar. 1. To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data from the county level using boundary definitions from the U.S. Census Bureau. Population data used to adjust case and death totals came from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2018 American Community Survey and are five-year estimates. Unemployment data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is not seasonally adjusted.

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