July 05, 2025
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Coronavirus

Willow Crest re-enters outbreak mode as county reports nearly 200 new cases over weekend

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Willow Crest Nursing Pavillion, which had 68 cases and 15 deaths during a deadly COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year, re-entered outbreak mode over the weekend according to the DeKalb County Health Department, which reported 190 new cases on Monday, representing three days' worth of figures.

Willow Crest reported a positive case in a resident and a staff member and joined Sandwich Rehab and Health Care Center as new long-term care facilities in the county to enter outbreak mode.

Oak Crest-DeKalb Area Retirement Center and Heritage Woods also reported new cases.

The total case count in the county rose to 4,708 while the death toll remained at 45.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate in the county dropped to 12.8%, down a peak of 16.8% the week before, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The positivity rate for Region 1, which includes DeKalb, dropped to 16.6%, down from a peak of 20.9%

Of the new cases, 34 were in residents 19 or younger, 41 in their 20s, 25 in their 30s, 34 in their 40s, 18 in their 50s, 16 in their 60s, 12 in their 70s and six in their 80s or older.

By the numbers

To date, there are now nine long-term care facilities in outbreak mode in DeKalb County.

Lincolnshire Place in Sycamore reports 15 cases (six in staff, nine in residents). DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in DeKalb reports 24 cases (23 in staff, one in a resident), Oak Crest-DeKalb Area Retirement Center in DeKalb reports 44 cases (20 in staff, 24 in residents with one death), Bethany Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in DeKalb reports 24 cases (21 in staff, three in residents), Pine Acres Rehabilitation and Living Center reports two cases (one each in a resident and employee), Prairie Crossing Living and Rehabilitation Center in Shabbona reports five cases (four in staff, one in a resident), and Heritage Woods in DeKalb reports six cases (four in staff, two in residents).

In total, there are 791 cases in DeKalb County residents 19 or younger, 1,160 in their 20s, 668 in their 30s, 693 in their 40s, 624 in their 50s, 386 in their 60s, 209 in their 70s and 177 in their 80s or older.

To date, there have been 26 deaths reported in DeKalb County residents in their 80s, six in their 70s, five in their 60s, four in their 50s, two in their 40s, one in their 30s and an infant.

According to county data, the city of DeKalb reports between 2,111 and 2,115 cases. There are between 941 and 945 cases in Sycamore, 406 to 410 in Sandwich and Plano (listed as one region on the site), 401 and 405 cases in Genoa, 221 and 225 cases in Cortland, 116 and 120 cases in Kirkland and Kingston, 101 and 105 cases in Hinckley, 66 and 70 in Malta and Somonauk, 46 and 50 in Waterman, 31 and 35 in Shabbona and Maple Park, 11 and 15 in Clare and six and 10 in Esmond and Earlville. Lee, Leland and Marengo each report between one and five cases.

The DeKalb County website lists residents that only live within the county lines for a municipality, while the IDPH website lists everyone within a certain ZIP code. Numbers also may vary because of data lags.

The 60115 ZIP code, including DeKalb, had 2,040 cases reported and 30,939 tests administered (a positivity rate of 6.6%); the 60178 ZIP code, including Sycamore, had 950 cases and 11,391 tests (8.3%); the 60548 ZIP code, including Sandwich, had 600 cases and 6,997 tests (8.6%); the 60111 ZIP code, including Clare, reported 15 cases and 145 tests (10.3%); the 60112 ZIP code, including Cortland, had 222 cases and 2,455 tests (9%); the 60135 ZIP code, including Genoa, had 390 cases and 3,707 tests (10.5%); the 60145 ZIP code, including Kingston, had 112 cases and 1,010 tests (11.1%); the 60146 ZIP code, including Kirkland, had 133 cases and 1,417 tests (9.4%); the 60520 ZIP code, including Hinckley, had 102 cases and 1,288 tests (7.9%); the 60550 ZIP code, including Shabbona, had 35 cases and 835 tests (4.2%); the 60150 ZIP code, including Malta, had 59 cases and 817 tests (7.2%); the 60151 ZIP code, including parts of Maple Park in both DeKalb and Kane counties, had 157 cases and 1,827 tests (8.6%); the 60556 ZIP code, including Waterman, had 44 cases and 730 tests (6%).

The IDPH reported 664,620 people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Friday, while 11,552 people have died statewide. There have been 9,892,981 tests performed.

The entire state moved to Tier 3 mitigation measures Nov. 20 to help stop the spread of COVID-19, including a continued prohibition on indoor dining at bars and restaurants, closures of gaming facilities and casinos and capping all gatherings to 10 or fewer, with officials urging residents to stay at home unless necessary and avoid holiday travel or family gatherings. DeKalb County’s health region has been under enhanced mitigations since Oct. 3. Under the new restrictions, each of the 11 health care regions can independently have restrictions eased if metrics improve.