Special Report

These Are the Counties in the New Bern, NC Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: October 20, 2021 3:00 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. To date, 44,501,723 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 716,720 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 17,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 13,544 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — in line with the national rate of 13,602 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are closely in line with the national per capita infection rate in New Bern, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader New Bern metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Pamlico County in North Carolina has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,678 infections in Pamlico County, or 13,169 for every 100,000 people.

Though Pamlico 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 188 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Pamlico County, above the 163 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 Oct. 18, 2021.

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