DOTHAN, Ala. – 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 Dothan metropolitan area, located in Alabama, a total of 14,384 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 9,721 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 Dothan is being driven disproportionately by one area in particular.
The broader Dothan metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents, which can include independent cities — and of them, Henry County has the most COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,838 infections in Henry County, or 10,733 for every 100,000 people.
A relatively high infection rate does not necessarily mean COVID-19 related fatalities per capita are higher in Henry County than they are across all of the Dothan area, however. There have been a total of 239 coronavirus deaths for every 100,000 people in Henry County, compared to 253 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Dothan metro area.
