DeKalb County reports 27 new coronavirus cases Wednesday

The DeKalb County Health Department health department on Wednesday announced 27 new cases of the novel coronavirus, as the total case count reached 2,236.

Continuing a trend that's been prominent locally throughout the pandemic, most of the cases reported Wednesday were in residents under 40, with 16 reported in residents younger than 40 years old.

Of the new cases, three were under 20, five were in their 20s, eight were in their 30s, two were in their 40s, four were in their 50s, three were in their 60s, and two were in their 70s.

There were no new cases at any of the long-term care facilities in the county a day after Bethany Rehabilitation and Health Care Center re-entered outbreak mode with two cases.

Although not listed on the county website, the Illinois Department of Public Health lists Opportunity House as a long-term care facility and reported an outbreak of 15 cases. Willow Crest Nursing Pavilion in Sandwich remained at 68 total cases and is at 15 deaths. Prairie Crossing Living and Rehabilitation Center in Shabbona still reports three cases, Oak Crest-DeKalb Area Retirement Center in DeKalb reports 12 cases and one death, and DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in DeKalb reports 10 cases.

The county's health region began enhanced restrictions earlier this month which were extended through Nov. 14, with restaurants and bars prohibited from allowing indoor dining. Region 1, which includes DeKalb, the Sauk Valley area and Rockford, reported a seven-day rolling test positivity rate of 11.6% as of Oct. 18, since IDPH data is three days behind.

The region needs three days in a row of a rolling average of less than 6.5% to have the restrictions lifted. The region's rate has not dropped below 8% since mitigations went into effect, so restrictions will remain until otherwise stated by the IDPH.

As of Sunday, DeKalb County's positivity rate was at 8.2%, according to the most recent available IDPH data.

The death toll in the county remained at 42.

In total, there are 373 cases in residents younger than 20, 642 in their 20s, 306 in their 30s, 307 in their 40s, 263 in their 50s, 147 in their 60s, 99 in their 70s and 99 that are 80 or older.

According to county data, the city of DeKalb reports between 1,141 and 1,145 cases. There are between 331 and 335 cases in Sycamore, 216 and 220 in Sandwich and Plano (listed as one region on the site), 151 and 155 cases in Genoa, 111 and 115 cases in Cortland, 51 and 55 cases in Kirkland, 46 and 50 cases in Hinckley, 41 and 45 cases in Kingston, 31 and 35 in Somonauk and Malta, 26 and 30 in Waterman, 16 and 20 in Maple Park, Shabbona. Esmond, Leland, Earlville and Clare each report between one and five cases.

Cases on the DeKalb County website list residents that only live within the county lines for a municipality, while the state website lists everyone within a certain ZIP code.

The IDPH lists cases and tests performed by ZIP code, while the county health department lists cases by municipality. Numbers vary between state and health departments because of data lags.

The 60115 ZIP code, including DeKalb, had 1,090 cases reported and 20,041 tests administered (a positivity rate of 5.4%); the 60178 ZIP code, including Sycamore, had 330 cases and 7,340 tests (4.4%); the 60548 ZIP code, including Sandwich, had 4,947 tests and 321 cases (6.5%); the 60112 ZIP code, including Cortland, had 112 cases and 1,651 tests (6.7%); the 60135 ZIP code, including Genoa, had 147 cases and 2,400 tests (6.1%); the 60145 ZIP code, including Kingston, had 41 cases and 660 tests (6.1%); the 60146 ZIP code, including Kirkland, had 65 cases and 941 tests (6.8%); the 60520 ZIP code, including Hinckley, had 45 cases and 906 tests (4.8%); the 60550 ZIP code, including Shabbona, had 17 cases and 681 tests (2.5%); the 60151 ZIP code, including parts of Maple Park in both DeKalb and Kane counties, had 55 cases and 1,226 tests (4.5%); and the 60556 ZIP code, including Waterman, had 23 cases and 539 tests (4.3%).

As of Wednesday, the IDPH reported 355,217 people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19, while 9,345 people have died statewide. There have been 6,950,105 tests performed. The recovery rate increased for the first time in about a month to 97%.

According to the county health department, as of Oct. 16, 1,214 DeKalb County residents fully recovered from the viral respiratory disease, and 38,500 COVID-19 tests have been conducted. That data is expected to be updated Friday.