ABILENE, TX – Though vaccine distribution is well underway across the United States, the novel coronavirus continues to spread through the population. To date, there have been 28,711,000 reported cases of the virus nationwide — and that number is growing every day.
In the Abilene metropolitan area, located in Texas, a total of 19,156 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 11,268 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 8,776 cases per 100,000 people.
The higher than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Abilene is being driven disproportionately by one area in particular.
The broader Abilene metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents, which can include independent cities — and of them, Jones County has the most COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 2,757 infections in Jones County, or 13,861 for every 100,000 people.
A relatively high infection rate does not necessarily mean COVID-19 related fatalities per capita are higher in Jones County than they are across all of the Abilene area, however. There have been a total of 251 coronavirus deaths for every 100,000 people in Jones County, compared to 274 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Abilene metro area.
