The Palladium-Item gathered data from public health agencies in eight states considered to be part of the CDC’s nationwide outbreak to determine the counties with the most cases of hepatitis A: Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Utah and West Virginia.
The data set excludes California and Tennessee, both of which were considered outbreak hotbeds by the CDC, but do not provide immediately-available data for incidents reported in specific counties; they instead break their states into regions comprised of several counties and cities.
Though some states have different release days for new information on their respective outbreaks, the information presented in the newspaper's list is accurate as of Friday; Arkansas and Ohio did not have a county considered to be in the top 10 nationally.
No. 1: Kanawha County, W. Va., 534 cases, (population of 188,300)
No. 2: Jefferson County, Ky., 268 cases (771,200)
No. 3: Macomb County, Mich. 223 cases (864,900)
No. 4: Cabell County, W. Va., 196 cases (96,844)
No. 5: Salt Lake County, Utah, 188 cases (1.1 million)
No. 6: Detroit, Mich., 172 cases (713,800)
No. 7: Wayne County, Mich., 148 cases (1.76 million)
No. 8: Oakland County, Mich., 118 cases (1.2 million)
No. 9: Butler County, Mo., 94 cases (43,000)
No. 10: Wayne County, Ind., 85 cases (70,000)