With slowing vaccination rates and the emergence of the delta variant, COVID-19 continues to spread through the United States. To date, 39,091,213 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 635,606 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 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area, which covers parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, a total of 631,664 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 10,407 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 11,948 cases per 100,000 people.
The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is being driven by one area in particular.
The broader Philadelphia metro area comprises 11 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Cecil County in Maryland has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 7,124 infections in Cecil County, or 6,949 for every 100,000 people.
Not only does Cecil County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Philadelphia metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.
There have been a total of 157 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Cecil County, below the 221 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metro area.
All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Sept. 2, 2021.
| Rank | Geography | COVID cases per 100,000 people | Total cases | Deaths per 100,000 people | Total deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cecil County, MD | 6,949 | 7,124 | 157 | 161 |
| 2 | Chester County, PA | 8,481 | 43,860 | 162 | 837 |
| 3 | Montgomery County, PA | 9,204 | 75,596 | 214 | 1,755 |
| 4 | Delaware County, PA | 9,894 | 55,757 | 255 | 1,437 |
| 5 | Bucks County, PA | 10,355 | 64,858 | 214 | 1,342 |
| 6 | Philadelphia County, PA | 10,521 | 165,761 | 243 | 3,822 |
| 7 | Salem County, NJ | 10,564 | 6,691 | 305 | 193 |
| 8 | Burlington County, NJ | 10,850 | 48,430 | 202 | 901 |
| 9 | Gloucester County, NJ | 11,471 | 33,363 | 229 | 665 |
| 10 | Camden County, NJ | 11,877 | 60,258 | 268 | 1,360 |
| 11 | New Castle County, DE | 12,603 | 69,966 | 168 | 933 |
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