(KMOX) - The darkest "hot spots" in the U.S. on a map that's tracking all new cases of COVID-19 can be found in Missouri. According to data compiled by the New York Times, three counties in northern Missouri have some of the highest rates of new COVID-19 cases per capita.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the high number of new cases per capita in neighboring Linn and Livingston Counties, as well as Putnam County have shot Missouri to the No. 10 state for highest rate in the last week. Health officials in Putnam have blamed their numbers on an error in the data entry system, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Livingston County is currently averaging 17 news cases per day over the last week and Linn is just behind with 11. Compare that to St. Louis County's rate of 44 new cases per day and it doesn't look so bad. But the rural counties in northern Missouri have less than 29,000 residents altogether – compared to just under 1 million in St. Louis County.
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Some of the next-highest case rates per capita in the US are, according to the NYT:
Chattahoochee, G.: 121
Torrance, N.M.: 53
Lincoln, Wash.: 43
Reeves, Texas: 39
Moffat, Colo.: 37
LaSalle La.: 35
Chattahoochee County, with a population of only about 3,300, owns the only rate higher than the two Missouri counties in the US.
Livingston and Linn have a per capita rate of 111 and 92 new cases, respectively. The next closest counties are Caldwell and Shelby with 41 and 40. St. Louis County is at 4.4, St. Louis City is 6 and St. Charles County is 7.4.
Livingston County had between zero and two new cases per day all year until it had seven on May 12. Then on May 18 it reached double-digits and hasn't slowed down. County health director Sherry Weldon told the Post-Dispatch she's unsure of what will come next after a busy holiday weekend of travel and gatherings.
“Everyone in this county from individuals to businesses and places of worship should be ultra-vigilant about prevention measures at this time,” Weldon stated in a press release. “We need to go back to what we were doing at the beginning of the pandemic to slow the spread of this virus.”
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Some reasons for the spike in numbers in those counties have been attributed to low vaccination rates for those under 65, senior trips by high school students, an indoor graduation ceremony with no mask mandates or social distancing and end-of-the-school-year parties.
Health officials in both counties also blame variants of the virus first identified in the U.K. and India. The World Health Organization says both variants are concerning because they appear to spread easily.
The surge has not led to new deaths, but Linn County’s medical director Dr. Kendal Geno said some people have had to be hospitalized.
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