After adding over 503,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 45.1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 730,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country.

New cases continue to rise, albeit at a slowing rate. In the past week, there were an average of 22.8 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — a decrease from the week prior, when there were an average of 28.7 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people.

While COVID-19 has spread to nearly every part of the country, cities continue to be the sites of major outbreaks. Experts agree that the virus is more likely to spread in group settings where large numbers of people routinely have close contact with one another, such as colleges, nursing homes, bars, and restaurants. Metropolitan areas with a high degree of connectivity between neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.

The Billings, MT, metro area consists of Yellowstone County, Carbon County, and Stillwater County. In the past week, there were an average of 93.4 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Billings residents, greater than the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is a decrease from the week prior, when there was an average of 106.0 daily new cases per 100,000 Billings residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Billings metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Carbon County. There were an average of 100.9 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Carbon County during the past week, the most of the three counties in Billings with available data.

Case growth in the Billings metro area varies at the county level. In Stillwater County, for example, there were an average of 60.8 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Billings and more than the case growth rate in Carbon County.

While Carbon County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Billings area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of October 26, there were a total of 12,777.2 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Carbon County, the second most of the three counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 13,906.4 cases per 100,000 Americans nationwide.

In order to slow the spread of COVID-19, city and county governments have ordered the closure of thousands of consumer-facing businesses. These measures have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Carbon County, unemployment peaked at 12.3% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 3.8%.

To determine the county in every metropolitan area where COVID-19 is growing the fastest, 24/7 Wall St. compiled and reviewed data from state and local health departments. We ranked counties according to the average number of new daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the seven days ending October 26. To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data up from the county level using boundary definitions from the U.S. Census Bureau. Population data used to adjust case and death totals came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey and are five-year estimates. Unemployment data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is not seasonally adjusted.

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

Rank in MSA	County	Population	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending October 26	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending October 19	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Carbon County	10,597	100.9	89.0	12,777.2	188.7
2	Yellowstone County	159,008	94.8	110.1	17,311.1	245.3
3	Stillwater County	9,466	60.8	56.3	11,610.0	211.3

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