With 33 new cases Wednesday, DeKalb County on track for mitigations to be relaxed Friday

SYCAMORE - County health officials announced no new cases in nursing homes on Wednesday as DeKalb County’s health region also hit the metrics needed to return to Tier 2 mitigations.

The DeKalb County Health Department also announced 33 new cases of COVID-19 in county residents, bringing the total to 7,361 cases.

DeKalb County is on track to have COVID-19 mitigations lifted slightly Friday, when some regions of the state are slated to return to Tier 2 according to the Restore Illinois plan, meaning that gyms and casinos will reopen and retail capacity will not be limited.

In order to qualify for that, DeKalb County’s region must meet three targets: at least three days of a regional positivity rate under 12% (the region meets this criterion); at least three days in a row where regional hospital and ICU bed capacity is above 20% (the region meets this criterion); and seven out of 10 days where hospitalizations decrease (the region hit seven out of 10 days Wednesday).

According to state data, 2,666 doses of the vaccine have been administered to DeKalb County residents either in the county or at another location, and 472 residents have been fully vaccinated as of Wednesday.

Among the new cases in the county Wednesday, eight were in residents younger than 20, five were in their 20s, seven were in their 30s, one was in their 40s, two were in their 50s, six were in their 60s, two were in their 70s and two were in their 80s.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate in the county fell to 11%. The positivity rate for Region 1, which includes DeKalb County, Winnebago and west to Whiteside, dropped to 8.9%.

By the numbers

There currently are seven long-term care facilities in outbreak mode in DeKalb County.

DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in DeKalb has reported 37 cases (34 staff and three residents), Oak Crest-DeKalb Area Retirement Center in DeKalb has reported 56 cases (26 staff and 30 residents with one death) and Bethany Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in DeKalb has reported 109 cases (46 staff and 63 residents with nine deaths). Prairie Crossing Living and Rehabilitation Center in Shabbona has reported 88 cases (34 staff and 54 residents with seven deaths). Lincolnshire Place in Sycamore has reported 47 cases (17 staff and 30 residents with seven deaths), and Willow Crest Nursing Pavilion in Sandwich has reported five cases (two employees and three residents). Pine Acres in DeKalb has 10 cases (five staff and five residents).

Some facilities are not designated long-term care by the county but are by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Opportunity House in Sycamore reported 32 cases on the state website during the facility’s second documented outbreak, while Avancer Home in Genoa had 11 cases and one death as of Jan. 8, the same as the week prior.

In total, there have been 1,198 cases in DeKalb County residents 19 or younger, 1,731 in their 20s, 1,101 in their 30s, 1,041 in their 40s, 950 in their 50s, 626 in their 60s, 363 in their 70s and 318 in their 80s or older.

To date, there have been 49 deaths reported in DeKalb County residents in their 80s or older, 14 in their 70s, 13 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 3,136 and 3,140 cases. There are between 1,526 and 1,530 cases in Sycamore; 651 and 655 in Sandwich and Plano (listed as one region on the site); 611 and 615 in Genoa; 321 and 325 cases in Cortland; 186 and 190 cases in Kirkland; 171 and 175 Hinckley; 166 and 170 in Kingston; 136 and 140 cases in Somonauk; 101 and 105 in Shabbona; 91 and 95 in Malta and Waterman; 51 and 55 in Maple Park; 16 and 20 in Clare; 11 and 15 in Earlville; and six and 10 in Esmond, Lee and Leland. 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 IDPH website lists everyone within a certain ZIP code. Numbers also may vary because of data lags.

The 60115 ZIP code, including DeKalb, had 3,043 cases reported and 43,219 tests administered (a positivity rate of 7%); the 60178 ZIP code, including Sycamore, had 1,537 cases and 16,204 tests (9.5%); the 60111 ZIP code, including Clare, reported 18 cases and 173 tests (10.4%); the 60112 ZIP code, including Cortland, had 314 cases and 3,290 tests (9.5%); the 60135 ZIP code, including Genoa, had 609 cases and 4,987 tests (12.2%); the 60145 ZIP code, including Kingston, had 163 cases and 1,350 tests (12.1%); the 60146 ZIP code, including Kirkland, had 206 cases and 1,814 tests (11.4%); the 60150 ZIP code, including Malta, had 84 cases and 1,103 tests (7.6%); the 60151 ZIP code, including parts of Maple Park in both DeKalb and Kane counties, had 249 cases and 2,526 tests (9.9%); the 60520 ZIP code, including Hinckley, had 172 cases and 1,828 tests (9.4%); the 60548 ZIP code, including Sandwich, had 982 cases and 9,976 tests (9.8%); the 60550 ZIP code, including Shabbona, had 109 cases and 1,056 tests (10.3%); and the 60556 ZIP code, including Waterman, had 91 cases and 992 tests (9.2%).

The IDPH reported 1,046,030 people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19, while 17,840 people have died statewide. There have been 14,339,584 tests performed.

As of Friday, 6,243 DeKalb County residents have fully recovered according to weekly data released by the county. There have been 77,075 negative tests as well, meaning 84,226 COVID-19 tests have been conducted on DeKalb County residents since the start of the pandemic.

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 to 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.

Region 1′s seven-day rate has not dropped below 8% since mitigation measures first went into effect Oct. 3.