COVID-19: Bay Area Among The Safest In America

San Francisco CA

22 July, 2021

12:23 PM

Description

24/7 Wall St. San Francisco 2021-07-22 The U.S. reported over 289,000 new cases of coronavirus on July 20, bringing the total count to more than 33.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 603,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country. New cases continue to rise at a steady rate. In the past week, there were an average of 7.5 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 4.5 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people. While new data shows that the risk of contracting COVID-19 is high in almost every part of the country, cities continue to be the sites of major outbreaks and superspreader events. 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 different neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk. The San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA metro area consists of Alameda County, Contra Costa County, San Francisco County, and two other counties. As of July 20, there were 5,563.8 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 San Francisco residents, the 21st lowest rate of all 383 metro areas with available data. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 10,449.4 cases per 100,000 Americans nationwide. The incidence of coronavirus cases depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area, Contra Costa County has the highest incidence of COVID-19 cases. As of July 20, there were 6,408.6 cases per 100,000 residents in Contra Costa County, the most of any county in San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, and far greater than the county with the lowest incidence. In San Francisco County, there were 4,343.3 cases per 100,000 residents — the least of any county in San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley. 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 the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area, unemployment peaked at 13.3% in April 2020. As of May 2021, the metro area's unemployment rate was 6.0%. To determine how the incidence of COVID-19 in the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA metro area compares to the rest of the country, 24/7 Wall St. compiled and reviewed data from state and local health departments. We ranked metro areas based on the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data 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 seasonally adjusted. These are all the counties in California where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it's still getting worse). Can't see the article's infographic? Click here to view the original story. This story was originally published by 24/7 Wall St., a news organization that produces real-time business commentary and data-driven reporting for state and local markets across the country.