Deadliest day: DeKalb County reports largest COVID-19 death toll recorded in 24 hours

DeKalb County on Wednesday recorded its deadliest day to date amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as local health officials reported three women and one man died from the viral respiratory disease within the past 24 hours.

It's the first time four deaths were reported within a 24 hour period.

The deaths included one woman in her 50s, one woman in her 80s, one man in his 80s, and one woman in her 90s, bringing the death toll to 62. One of the deaths was a resident at Lincolnshire Place in Sycamore, though the other three are not connected to a local long-term care facility, according to the DeKalb County Health Department.

There were also 36 new COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday, bringing the total to 6,120, though 4,368 have fully recovered as of Dec. 11.

Though case counts are down, local deaths related to the virus are on the rise in December.

There also were 11 new cases at Prairie Crossing Living and Rehabilitation Center in Shabbona (three in residents and eight in staff). That marks the highest case count of any local long-term care facility outbreak, surpassing the 82-case count reported by Pine Acres Rehabilitation and Living Center's first outbreak in the spring. The largest local COVID-19 death toll at a long-term care facility remains at Willow Crest Nursing Pavilion in Sandwich, with 14 deaths.

Of the new cases, there were five in residents 19 or younger, seven in their 20s, six n their 30s, five in their 40s, seven in their 50s, three in their 60s, one in their 70s and two in their 80s or older.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate in the county rose slightly to 10.9% from 10.8% the day prior. The positivity rate for Region 1, which includes DeKalb, Winnebago and Whiteside counties, dropped for the seventh straight day to 10.6%.

By the numbers

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

DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in DeKalb has reported 33 cases (30 in staff and three in residents), Oak Crest-DeKalb Area Retirement Center in DeKalb has reported 51 cases (24 in staff and 27 in residents with one death) and the Bethany Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in DeKalb has reported 70 cases (35 in staff and 35 in residents and one death). Prairie Crossing Living and Rehabilitation Center in Shabbona has reported 85 cases (32 in staff and 53 residents and three deaths), and Heritage Woods in DeKalb has reported seven cases (five in staff and two in residents). Lincolnshire Place in Sycamore has reported 46 cases (16 in staff and 30 in residents and four deaths), Sandwich Rehabilitation has reported four cases (three in staff and one resident) and Willow Crest Nursing Pavilion in Sandwich has reported three cases (two in employees and two residents).

Although the county health department doesn't designate Sycamore's Opportunity House as a long-term care facility and, therefore, doesn't list cases linked to the facility, the state health department does. As of Dec. 11, Opportunity House reports six cases during the facility's second documented outbreak.

In total, there have been 1,012 cases in DeKalb County residents 19 or younger, 1,452 in their 20s, 900 in their 30s, 890 in their 40s, 798 in their 50s, 521 in their 60s, 283 in their 70s and 264 in their 80s or older.

To date, there have been 37 deaths reported in DeKalb County residents in their 80s or older, eight in their 70s, seven in their 60s, five in their 50s, three in their 40s, one in their 30s and one infant.

According to county data, DeKalb has seen between 2,666 and 2,670 cases. There are between 1,281 and 1,285 cases in Sycamore, 521 and 525 in Sandwich and Plano (listed as one region on the site), 506 and 510 in Genoa, 276 and 280 cases in Cortland, 161 and 165 cases in Kirkland, 141 and 145 in Kingston, 121 and 125 cases in Hinckley, 101 and 105 cases in Somonauk, 81 and 85 in Malta and Shabbona, 71 and 75 in Waterman, 41 and 45 in Maple Park, 16 and 20 in Clare and six, 11 and 15 in Earville, and six and 10 in Esmond and Leland. Lee, Marengo and Rochelle each report between one and five cases.

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

The 60115 ZIP code, including DeKalb, had 2,585 cases reported and 37,345 tests administered (a positivity rate of 6.9%); the 60178 ZIP code, including Sycamore, had 1,288 cases and 13,895 tests (9.2%); the 60111 ZIP code, including Clare, reported 18 cases and 166 tests (10.8%); the 60112 ZIP code, including Cortland, had 273 cases and 2,865 tests (9.5%); the 60135 ZIP code, including Genoa, had 496 cases and 4,358 tests (11.3%); the 60145 ZIP code, including Kingston, had 136 cases and 1,178 tests (11.5%); the 60146 ZIP code, including Kirkland, had 174 cases and 1,629 tests (10.6%); the 60150 ZIP code, including Malta, had 73 cases and 962 tests (7.5%); the 60151 ZIP code, including parts of Maple Park in both DeKalb and Kane counties, had 205 cases and 2,186 tests (9.3%); the 60520 ZIP code, including Hinckley, had 120 cases and 1,492 tests (8%); the 60548 ZIP code, including Sandwich, had 769 cases and 8,507 tests (9%); the 60550 ZIP code, including Shabbona, had 94 cases and 947 tests (9.9%); and the 60556 ZIP code, including Waterman, had 68 cases and 847 tests (8%).

The IDPH reported 870,600 people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19 to date, while 14,655 people have died statewide. There have been 12,055,288 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 the capping of all gatherings to 10 or fewer people, 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 certain metrics improve.

In order for the region to move back to Tier 2 mitigation measures, with no restrictions on retail stores, gyms, casinos, gaming facilities, etc., the region needs to report three consecutive days of a regional positivity rate less than 12%. In order to lift restrictions on bars and restaurants, the region's rates need to be below 8%. Region 1's seven-day rate has not dropped below 8% since mitigation measures first went into effect Oct. 3.