Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Knoxville, TN Metro Area with the Most Deaths from COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: October 15, 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, 710,757 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 1,792 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 206 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 217 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, this is not the case in some parts of the city.

The broader Knoxville metro area comprises nine counties or county equivalents — and of them, Roane County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Roane County stands at 278 for every 100,000 people.

Though it has the highest per capita death rate in the Knoxville metro area, Roane 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. 13, 2021.

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