Special Report

This Is the County in the Knoxville, TN Metro Area with the Most Deaths from COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: October 22, 2021 5:15 am

Following a months long surge driven by the delta variant, new daily cases of COVID-19 are falling once again in the United States. Still, the virus continues to claim lives. So far, 719,694 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 Knoxville metropolitan area, located in Tennessee, a total of 1,830 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 211 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 220 deaths have been attributed to the virus per 100,000 people.

Though COVID-19 deaths per capita in the metro area are closely in line with comparable national rate, there are parts of the city where this is not the case.

The broader Knoxville metro area comprises nine counties or county equivalents — and of them, Grainger County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Grainger County stands at 282 for every 100,000 people.

Though it has the highest per capita death rate in the Knoxville metro area, Grainger County ranks among the middle 50% 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 Oct. 20, 2021.

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