Special Report

COVID-19: This is the Least Dangerous County in the Bismarck, ND Metro Area

Samuel Stebbins

Published: June 18, 2021 3:30 am

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the novel coronavirus continues to spread through the United States. To date, 33,151,678 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 594,888 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 Bismarck metropolitan area, located in North Dakota, a total of 22,157 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 16,975 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 10,133 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Bismarck than they are nationwide, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Bismarck metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Oliver County in North Dakota has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 158 infections in Oliver County, or 8,601 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 163 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Oliver County, below the 237 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Bismarck metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of June 16, 2021.

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