The counties in black and gray are the highest; the ones in green the lowest. Courtesy of The Daily Yonder.

COVID-19 infections are rising again — health authorities blame families getting together for Thanksgiving and spreading the virus, especially among those who aren’t vaccinated. We continue to see the same pattern we’ve had for weeks now, with the state’s highest infection rates generally in Southwest Virginia and some of the lowest rates in parts of Southside. Lynchburg, which had often been the largest metro in the state, or one of the largest, with a low infection rate, has lost that status. Infection rates there have more than doubled. Generally speaking, the places with the highest infection rates have the lowest vaccination rates.

Eight of the 10 localities with the highest infection rates — and 9 of the top 11 — are in Southwest Virginia, according to federal data for the week ending Dec. 4 that was compiled by The Daily Yonder, a website specializing in rural issues. Here are the localities in Virginia with the highest infection rates, measured on a cases per 100,000 population basis:

  1. Galax 567.2, up from 378.1
  2. Washington County 444.7, up from 223.3
  3. King William County 437.4, up from 180.8
  4. Dickenson County 433.0, down from 621.6
  5. Norton 427.0, unchanged
  6. Scott County 417.3, up from 139.1
  7. Wise County 393.2, up from 286.2
  8. Buchanan County 390.4, unchanged
  9. Warren County 353.6, up from 291.3
  10. Carroll County 339.0, up from 305.5
  11. Russell County 327.2, up from 267.1
  12. Frederick County 324.7, up from 254.2
  13. Shenandoah County 321.0, up from 234.0
  14. Highland County 319.6, up from 45.7
  15. Tazewell County 317.8, up from 231.6
  16. Appomattox County 308.0, up from 100.6
  17. Alleghany County 302.8, up from 161.5
  18. Charles City County 301.6, up from 229.8

Virus rates don’t split along rural and urban lines, though. Six of the 10 localities with the lowest infection rates are in Southside.

  1. Emporia 18.7, down from 37.4
  2. Fairfax (city) 20.8, down from 41.6
  3. Lancaster County 28.3, down from 75.5
  4. Manassas Park 28.6, up from 0
  5. Greensville County 35.3, down from 105.9
  6. Lunenburg County 49.2, down from 73.8
  7. Brunswick County 49.3, down from 55.4
  8. Northampton County 51.2, down from 85.4
  9. Nottoway County 52.5, up from 32.8
  10. Prince Edward County 65.8, up from 39.5
  11. Accomack County 68.1, down from 120.7
  12. Charlottesville 78.3, down from 131.2
  13. Dinwiddie County 80.6, down from 140.1
  14. Portsmouth 83.7, down from 111.2
  15. Newport News 87.0, up from 73.7
  16. Buckingham County 87.5, up from 29.2
  17. (tie) Franklin (city) 87.9, down from 113.0 and Suffolk, 87.9, up from 85.8
  18. Norfolk 90.2, up from 67.1
  19. Hampton 92.9, up from 83.3
  20. Martinsville 95.6, down from 326.6
  21. Fairfax County 96.8, up from 79.8
  22. Richmond County 99.7, down from 110.8

You can look up the data for each locality in the country on The Daily Yonder’s interactive map. You can find more updated data for infection rates and vaccination rates on the Virginia Department of Health’s covid dashboard.