The highest rates are in black or gray; the lowest in green. Courtesy of The Daily Yonder.

Here’s how much covid infections have fallen. For the first time since we started publishing these weekly maps last fall, most of Virginia is in the green or lowest category. During the height of the omicron surge, there were no localities in green. Nontheless, the highest rates remain in far Southwest and Southside Virginia, although neither of the two highest counties are. And the most southwestern county in Virginia — Lee County — now shows up in the green zone. It’s the rare exception in Appalachia but perhaps a sign that covid rates will fall in neighboring localities, as well.

This map is based on federal data analyzed by the Daily Yonder, a website that covers rual issues. For the week ending March 5, only two localities in Virginia showed up in the highest infection category — and unlike other localities that saw their rates dropping, these two localities saw their rates rising.

  1. Roanoke County 1,154.1, up from 125.3
  2. Madison County 686.2, up from 0.

Meanwhile, nine localities recorded no covid infections at all. One of those was Roanoke. Another was Salem, which record no cases for the second week in a row. Just because a locality record no covid cases doesn’t mean the infection is gone for good. Madison County recorded no cases the week prior and now has shot back up again. Still, the trendline is clear — this particular surge of the virus is on the way down. You can compare this map with the one for the week ending January 15 in which virtually all of Virginia was in the black or gray zone (depending on whether the locality is rural or non-rural) and none were in the green zone.

Here are the nine localities that saw no new infections:

  1. Accomack County 0, down from 49.5
  2. Bland County 0, down from 414.0
  3. Caroline County 0, down from 361.3
  4. Charles City County 0, down from 57.4
  5. Culpeper County 0, down from 403.0
  6. Manassas 0, down from 462.5
  7. Roanoke 0, down from 230.0
  8. Salem, 0, unchanged.
  9. Southampton County 0, down from 51.0

You can look up the data for every locality in the country on the Daily Yonder’s interactive map.