Key Points
Question
What individual and county factors are associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among pregnant people and which county factors modify risk among those at highest risk?
Findings
In this retrospective repeated cross-sectional study of US counties and 39 380 122 pregnant people with live births, White and American Indian/Alaska Native people without a 4-year college degree had the highest individual risk of HCV. High levels of county employment mitigated the rise of HCV infections among people with the highest risk of acquiring the virus.
Meaning
US HCV infections among pregnant people grew fastest among White and American Indian/Alaska Native people without a 4-year degree; however, county-level factors, including higher levels of employment, modified this risk.