The highest rates are in black and gray, the lowest in green. That one green locality is Camden County, North Carolina. Courtesy of The Daily Yonder.

Covid rates are starting to fall in most parts of Virginia, although rates still remain so high that most localities are in the “black zone,” which makes even the “red zone” an improvement, according to the latest analysis of federal data compiled by The Daily Yonder.

The omicron variant hit the state’s metro areas first and that’s also where we’re now seeing rates subside the most, leaving Southwest Virginia to have the highest infection rates in the state.

The Daily Yonder, a website that covers rural issues nationally, has compiled this analysis of data for the week ending Feb. 5. There were 18 localities with infection rates higher than 1,000 per 100,000 population. Of those, 16 are west of the Blue Ridge, including the six highest. Generally, the parts of the state with the highest infection rates have the lowest vaccination rates.

Here are the localities with the highest infection rates:

  1. Lexington 1,893.6, down from 3,760.4
  2. Norton 1,883.9, down from 2,587.3
  3. Grayson County 1,762.1, up from 1,543.4
  4. Lee County 1,720.5, down from 1,733.3
  5. Wise County 1,701.3, up from 1,637.1
  6. Smyth County 1,697.4, down from  1,996.4
  7. Richmond County 1,662.4, up from 1,174.8
  8. Bland County 1,498.6, down from 1,910.0
  9. Bristol 1,443.7, down from 2,141.7
  10. Scott County 1,326.2, down from 1,933.6
  11. Washington County 1,276.5, down from 1,732.4
  12. Galax 1,276.2, down from 2,174.3
  13. Wythe County 1,227.2, down from 1,589.7
  14. Russell County 1,241.3, down from 1,436.8
  15. Tazewell County 1,120.8, down from 1,443.5
  16. Dickenson County 1,047, down from 1,501.6
  17. Salem 1,039.5, down from ,
  18. Lunenburg County 1,008.5, down from 1147.9

And the lowest:

  1. Fairfax (city) 108.2, down from 245.6
  2. Manassas Park 183.1, down from 579.1
  3. Rappahannock County 257.8, down from 502.0
  4. Petersburg 264.8, down from 1,473.9
  5. Mathews County 305.6, down from 645.2
  6. Charles City County 316.0, down from 919.1
  7. Williamsburg 327.7, down from 414.6
  8. Fairfax County 338.0, down from 625.1
  9. Norfolk 344.8, down from 786.8
  10. Loudoun County 347.0, down from 651.0

You can view the interactive map of every locality in the country here.