Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Topeka, KS Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: September 26, 2021 4:45 am

With the ongoing surge of the delta variant, COVID-19 continues to spread through the United States. To date, 42,163,561 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 673,728 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 Topeka metropolitan area, located in Kansas, a total of 30,860 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 13,230 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — in line with the national rate of 12,887 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are closely in line with the national per capita infection rate in Topeka, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Topeka metro area comprises five counties or county equivalents — and of them, Osage County in Kansas has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,814 infections in Osage County, or 11,422 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Osage County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Topeka metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 201 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Osage County, below the 231 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Topeka metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Sept. 23, 2021.

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