The list is long, but it’s not hard to find the Bay Area among the lowest COVID-19 death rates for the U.S.’s 140 largest counties.
Try numbers 1 (San Francisco), 2 (San Mateo), 5 (Contra Costa), 9 (Alameda) and 10 (Santa Clara).
That’s according to a Bay Area News Group analysis of data on COVID-19 death rates through May 7, the most recent available from the CDC, and 2020 U.S. Census population figures for counties with more than 500,000 residents.
We’ve highlighted the Bay Area counties in gold on the list below; the other four counties in the Bay Area are too small to make this ranking. Other California counties on the list are green, including Sacramento (28) — San Diego (31) and LA (68). Stanislaus in the Central Valley was the Golden State’s lowest at 125. If you’re keeping score, Florida’s Orange County (39) had a lower rate than Orange County, California (43).
Hard-hit counties early in the pandemic in and around New York City rank low on the list. At the very bottom: Tulsa County, Oklahoma, No. 140. Tulsa’s COVID policies became the subject of controversy in June, 2020, when a campaign rally for then-President Donald Trump was held there, and later was linked to an explosion in cases in the area.
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To read more about how many Americans would still be alive if the country had the Bay Area’s low death rate, click here.
