Special Report

This Is the County in the Madison, WI Metro Area with the Most Deaths from COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: December 3, 2021 3:00 am

Despite the ongoing vaccination effort, new daily cases of COVID-19 are beginning to rise once again in parts of the United States and the virus continues to claim lives. So far, 774,868 Americans have died from the virus — more than the total number of Americans killed in World War I and World War II combined.

In the Madison metropolitan area, located in Wisconsin, a total of 533 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 82 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 237 deaths have been attributed to the virus per 100,000 people.

Though deaths attributable to the virus are less common across the metro area than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area have more deaths per capita than others.

The broader Madison metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Columbia County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Columbia County stands at 163 for every 100,000 people.

Though it has the highest per capita death rate in the Madison metro area, Columbia County ranks among the bottom 25% of all U.S. counties or county equivalents by COVID-19 death rate per capita.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Dec. 1, 2021.

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