The worst coronavirus outbreaks are happening in these 15 cities

• The number of new coronavirus cases is rising rapidly in college towns across the country.
• Some schools that have recently been hit hard with a Covid-19 outbreak include the University of Illinois and Florida State University.
• To date, the U.S. has seen nearly 200,000 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began.

When states across the country ended their respective lockdowns and started re-opening back in June, it wasn’t long before we started seeing a huge spike in new coronavirus cases. Whereas the number of new coronavirus cases in April and May fell in the 20,000 to 30,000 range, the number of new COVID-19 infections throughout most of July fell between 55,000 and 70,000.

Dr. Anthony Fauci at the time said the rate of coronavirus infections was unacceptable. Fauci further cautioned that the U.S. was poised to find itself in a “really bad situation” if the number of new COVID-19 infections didn’t drop below 10,000 by fall.

Well, fall is now just a few days away and we, unfortunately, haven’t seen a drastic decline in new coronavirus cases in the slightest. Over the past seven days alone, the average number of new coronavirus cases has been about 40,000. And with colder weather and flu season right around the corner, many health professionals fear that the situation is going to get drastically worse in the near future.

Currently, the majority of coronavirus outbreaks have been occurring in college towns, a fact which shouldn’t be all that surprising given how densely packed such towns tend to be. It also doesn’t help that we’ve seen a seemingly endless number of reports involving swarms of partying college students who are carrying on as if the coronavirus doesn’t even exist. Some schools that have been hit particularly hard by coronavirus outbreaks include the University of Georgia, the University of Illinois, and Oklahoma State University.

So just where, exactly, is the coronavirus spreading the fastest? Well, The New York Times has been keeping tabs on which metropolitan areas have seen the greatest number of new cases relative to population size:

1. Huntsville, Texas – 88.7 new cases per 100,000 people
2. Farmington, Missouri – 67.3 new cases per 100,000 people
3. Pine Bluff, Arkansas – 62.6 new cases per 100,000 people
4. Pullman, Washington – 62.0 new cases per 100,000 people
5. Oxford, Mississippi – 58.2 new cases per 100,000 people
6. Tallahassee, Florida – 57.4 new cases per 100,000 people
7. Bismarck, North Dakota – 56.5 new cases per 100,000 people
8. Athens, Georgia – 56.4 new cases per 100,000 people
9. Harrisonburg, Virginia – 54.4 new cases per 100,000 people
10. La Crosse, Wisconsin – 53.4 new cases per 100,000 people
11. Stillwater, Oklahoma – 53.2 new cases per 100,000 people
12. Columbia, Missouri – 51.2 new cases per 100,000 people
13. Rio Grande City, Texas – 51.2 new cases per 100,000 people
14. Champaign, Illinois – 48.3 new cases per 100,000 people
15. Warrensburg, Missouri – 47.2 new cases per 100,000 people

On a state by state basis, the areas that are still experiencing an increase in new COVID-19 cases include North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Missouri, South Carolina, Iowa, and Oklahoma.