Auburn-Opelika, Alabama
Auburn University is one of two major public universities in the state of Alabama, and according to the latest data, it is experiencing the second-worst outbreak in the United States with 7.7 per 1,000 people testing positive in the metro area surrounding the school.
Statesboro, Georgia
Georgia Southern University makes up a significant portion of the population of Statesboro, and over the last two weeks, 710 have tested positive for COVID-19, which puts the area’s rate just under Auburn’s at 7.4 per 1,000.
Ames, Iowa
Iowa actually appears on the list twice, with Ames — the home of Iowa State University — outpacing its neighbor to the east by a hair with 1,143 cases in the last two weeks, tying Statesboro, Georgia with a novel coronavirus infection rate of 7.4 per 1,000.
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City, the home of the University of Iowa, had significantly more cases over the past two weeks (1,919) than Ames, but with a much larger population, its rate is slightly lower at 7.2 per 1,000 people.
Pullman, Washington
Washington state was the epicenter of the pandemic before cases started popping up around the country, but that didn’t stop Washington State University from reopening, and now Pullman has seen 485 new cases over the last two weeks, which is a rate of 6.3 per 1,000.
Oxford, Mississippi
Mississippi has been making headlines for months as the state has been designing a new flag to replace the one that incorporated the Confederate battle flag. They will vote on a new flag in November. That’s encouraging news, but the bad news is that Oxford, Mississippi, which is where the University of Mississippi is located, has reported 422 COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, good for a rate of 5.2 per 1,000.
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington, Illinois has been climbing up the list in recent days, reaching the eighth spot 1,197 cases over the last two weeks for a rate of 4.4 per 1,000 as Illinois State University pledges to stay open.
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Somehow, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, with a student population of less than 2,600, has helped rocket the city of Pine Bluff, Arkansas into the top ten worst outbreaks in America, with 621 positive tests over the last two weeks, which brings the infection rate to 4.3 per 1,000.
Greenville, North Carolina
The 28,000+ Pirates of East Carolina University have dragged Greenville, North Carolina into the top ten, with 1,317 new infections over the last two weeks, which is an infection rate of 4.1 per 1,000.