Special Report

This Is the County in the Wheeling, WV-OH Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: November 24, 2021 2:30 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, 47,257,270 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 765,010 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 Wheeling metropolitan area, which covers parts of West Virginia and Ohio, a total of 21,921 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 15,365 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 14,444 cases per 100,000 people.

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

The broader Wheeling metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Belmont County in Ohio has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 9,953 infections in Belmont County, or 14,536 for every 100,000 people.

Though Belmont County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Wheeling metro area, its per capita fatality rate is closely in line with the regional average.

There have been a total of 332 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Belmont County, compared to 320 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Wheeling metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Nov. 22, 2021.

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