A spike in rural infections last week pushed the nation to a new peak in COVID-19 cases.

Rural counties had a record 17,818 new infections on Friday, Oct. 23. Even though metropolitan cases did not hit a record that day, rural America’s high number drove infections to a new peak of 82,887 infections in a single day.

New infections in metropolitan counties peaked in July at 71,853 cases. On Oct. 23, …