Special Report

This is the County in the New Bern, NC Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: April 3, 2021 3:00 am

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the novel coronavirus continues to spread through the United States. To date, 30,030,084 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 545,022 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 New Bern metropolitan area, located in North Carolina, a total of 10,684 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 8,512 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 9,179 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across New Bern is being driven disproportionately by one area in particular.

The broader New Bern metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Jones County has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 779 infections in Jones County, or 8,035 for every 100,000 people.

Though Jones County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the New Bern metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 165 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Jones County, above the 116 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire New Bern metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of March 31, 2021.

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