Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: December 1, 2021 4:30 am

Despite the ongoing vaccination effort, new daily cases of COVID-19 are beginning to rise once again in parts of the United States. To date, 47,702,004 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 770,162 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 Memphis metropolitan area, which covers parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas, a total of 222,779 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 16,551 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 14,580 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Memphis than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Memphis metro area comprises nine counties or county equivalents — and of them, Shelby County in Tennessee has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 147,067 infections in Shelby County, or 15,695 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 248 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Shelby County, below the 261 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Memphis metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Nov. 26, 2021.

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