Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: May 18, 2022 5:00 am

Since the first case of the omicron variant was detected in the U.S., new daily cases of COVID-19 have hit new highs. To date, 81,519,474 Americans are confirmed to have been infected with the virus — and over 1 million 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 Boston-Cambridge-Newton metropolitan area, which covers parts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, a total of 1,151,807 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 23,937 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — in line with the national rate of 24,917 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are closely in line with the national per capita infection rate in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Boston metro area comprises seven counties or county equivalents — and of them, Norfolk County in Massachusetts has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 140,637 confirmed infections in Norfolk County, or 20,141 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 272 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Norfolk County, compared to 272 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of May 16, 2022.

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