California is now the epicenter of the country’s last coronavirus outbreak, but San Francisco still has one of the lowest case rates in the top 20 cities in the U.S.
As the new year approaches and vaccines continue to be launched across the country, case and death rates are among the highest ever. But the differences between the country’s largest metropolitan areas are stark.
Some, including San Francisco, Seattle and Detroit, have relatively low case rates. Others are two, sometimes even three times as large, including large cities in Texas and several southern California counties.
Southern California has been the main driver of California’s recent rise, although several cities in the Bay Area are also experiencing high rates of cases and deaths.
Here is a look at the most recent case rates (daily average per 100,000 over the past seven days) in major metropolitan areas across the country, according to the New York Times tracker:
Large metropolitan areas with lower case rates
Seattle appears to have the lowest case rate among the nation’s major metropolitan areas. It was the first coronavirus epicenter in the country, but for most of the pandemic, the cases have not gone out of control.
Like other cities, Seattle experienced its worst increase in late November and early December, with a historic record of 907 new cases recorded on December 4. But since mid-December, cases have been dropping dramatically, with 104 new cases counted in December 26.
During the pandemic, San Francisco was seen as a model in the pandemic, leading on-site shelter requests and mask orders, and cautiously reopening companies. It managed to be the only major metropolitan area in California to move to the less restrictive yellow reopening level in October.
San Francisco is part of the state’s demand for shelter in the Bay Area region, but has a low case rate compared to even other Bay Area counties, with 27.2 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants daily.
Metropolitan areas with higher case rates
Los Angeles County is recovering from the latest increase, adding more than 42,000 cases on Fridays and Saturdays during the holiday weekend, totaling more than 719,000. Hospitals are full of patients and ICUs are full. The county health official says people who come together and mix with different families are driving the increase. Authorities anticipate that requests for home stays required by the state of the region will need to be extended for several weeks in the new year.
Further south, San Diego County is also seeing increasing cases, although its rate is lower than that of Los Angeles. On Sunday, San Diego County reported more than 3,100 new cases of coronavirus, its 27th consecutive day with more than 1,000 new cases daily in the pandemic. The county health official said infections after Thanksgiving accounted for 44% of all cases and, on the current track, the county could register another 600 deaths from coronavirus before the end of next month.
In Texas, the second most populous state in the country, behind California, Dallas County is seeing its own holiday increase. During the Thursday to Saturday Christmas holiday, Dallas County reported an average of 2,000 new cases per day, and hospital resources and staff are being very scarce. Authorities expect an additional 1,500 hospitalizations in the county by January 5, which should reduce the overall quality of care. COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death in Dallas County.
Arizona reported more than 10,000 new cases on Monday, bringing the state total to more than 500,000, with an increase of more than 50% since Thanksgiving. On Saturday, cases in Maricopa County exceeded 300,000. The populations of Latinos and American Indians were disproportionately affected by the virus.
The state also recorded the highest number of admissions for COVID-19 in one day and the number of ICU admissions for COVID-19. Medical and public health leaders earlier this month asked the governor for stricter protocols, including a statewide mask mandate and a ban on indoor meals.
Kellie Hwang is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @KellieHwang