[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

You have to look at population. The colors are based on cases/100,000. In a very lightly populated county, one or two cases can literally cause them to stand out whereas the county next door may not have any cases or just 1 vs 2 and if it's also lightly populated will have a very different rate/100,000.

For this reason, I don't take this map very seriously in rural regions . . . only in urban areas and cities. So, for example, I think it matters that San Francisco has 4/100,000 whereas Detroit (Wayne County) has 83/100,000.

If you go to the actual link and hover over the county, it shows you the actual number of cases (from which you can calculate population if you want to). But consider that San Francisco and Jefferson County, Arkansas have a similar rate of cases per 100,000 but that means 2.7 average daily cases in Jefferson County but 38 in San Francisco. If Jefferson had one less or one more cases per day, their rate/100,000 would be drastically different. That can certainly happen.

The difference in cases/100k between SF & Detroit highlights the importance of masks and social distancing even more than the vaccine. Presumably many Detroiters like San Franciscans have been vaccinated, but such a stark difference means masking in public is just as important.