Special Report

This is the County in the Billings, MT Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: September 15, 2021 2:15 am

With the ongoing surge of the delta variant, COVID-19 continues to spread through the United States. To date, 40,508,857 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 651,204 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 Billings metropolitan area, located in Montana, a total of 22,416 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 13,257 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 12,382 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Billings than they are nationwide, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Billings metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Golden Valley County in Montana has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 61 infections in Golden Valley County, or 8,425 for every 100,000 people.

Though Golden Valley County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Billings metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 276 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Golden Valley County, above the 190 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Billings metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Sept. 13, 2021.

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