COVID-19 positivity rates in county, region, poised to drop below 2%

Both DeKalb County and its health region are poised to drop under 2% in seven-day rolling positivity rates according to numbers released by health officials on Tuesday.

The rate in the county hit 2% in numbers released by the Illinois Department of Public Health, a day after the DeKalb County Health Department announced 27 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday.

Due to a technical issue with the county website Monday data - representing three days worth of cases over the weekend - was not available until Tuesday.

New cases reported Tuesday totaled 29. Now new deaths were reported.

There have now been 8,461 cases reported in the county, and the death toll remains at 110.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate in Region 1, which runs north to Rockford and west to the Iowa border, matched its low of 2.1%, and the county’s hit a low of 2% after just six positive tests on Saturday, the last day of information on the state site due to a three-day lag.

According to state data, 17,111 total vaccine doses have been administered to DeKalb County residents, and 5,128 residents, or 4.98% of the county’s population of 104,143, have been fully vaccinated. The seven-day rolling average of doses administered to county residents is at 411, with 3,560 doses reported inventory – 2,840 at the health department (more than double the previous day) and 720 at community partners.

By the numbers

As of Tuesday, there were two long-term care facilities in outbreak mode in DeKalb County.

DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in DeKalb has reported 128 cases (75 in staff and 53 in residents with 11 deaths), Oak Crest-DeKalb Area Retirement Center in DeKalb has reported 63 cases (31 in staff and 32 in residents with one death).

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 40 cases on the state website during the facility’s second documented outbreak, up two from the week before. Avancer Home in Genoa is now listed as having its outbreak ended after 17 cases and one death.

As of Monday, there had been 1,401 cases in DeKalb County residents 19 or younger, 1,980 in their 20s, 1,262 in their 30s, 1,185 in their 40s, 1,066 in their 50s, 735 in their 60s, 421 in their 70s and 386 in their 80s or older.

There have been 65 deaths reported in DeKalb County residents in their 80s or older, 17 in their 70s, 17 in their 60s, six in their 50s, three in their 40s, one in their 30s and one infant.

According to county data as of Friday, DeKalb has seen between 3,626 and 3,630 cases. There are between 1,721 and 1,725 cases in Sycamore, 771 and 775 in Sandwich and Plano (listed as one region on the site), 681 and 685 in Genoa, 381 and 385 cases in Cortland, 216 and 220 cases in Kirkland, 201 and 205 in Hinckley, 186 and 190 in Kingston, 161 and 165 cases in Somonauk, 116 and 120 in Waterman, 106 to 110 in Shabbona, 101 and 105 in Malta, 71 and 75 in Maple Park, 16 and 20 in Clare, 11 and 15 in Earlville and Esmond and six and 10 in 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 3,503 cases reported and 56,967 tests administered (a positivity rate of 6.1%); the 60178 ZIP code, including Sycamore, had 1,729 cases and 19,667 tests (8.8%); the 60111 ZIP code, including Clare, reported 19 cases and 213 tests (8.9%); the 60112 ZIP code, including Cortland, had 377 cases and 4,028 tests (9.4%); the 60135 ZIP code, including Genoa, had 673 cases and 5,970 tests (11.3%); the 60145 ZIP code, including Kingston, had 181 cases and 1,619 tests (11.2%); the 60146 ZIP code, including Kirkland, had 235 cases and 2,171 tests (10.8%); the 60150 ZIP code, including Malta, had 97 cases and 1,313 tests (7.4%); the 60151 ZIP code, including parts of Maple Park in both DeKalb and Kane counties, had 301 cases and 3,113 tests (9.7%); the 60520 ZIP code, including Hinckley, had 201 cases and 2,310 tests (8.7%); the 60548 ZIP code, including Sandwich, had 1,166 cases and 11,899 tests (9.8%); the 60550 ZIP code, including Shabbona, had 120 cases and 1,314 tests (9.1%); and the 60556 ZIP code, including Waterman, had 108 cases and 1,260 tests (8.6%).

The IDPH reported 1,189,416 people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19, while 20,583 people have died statewide. There have been 18,234,668 tests performed to date.

According to weekly recovery and testing data released Friday, a total of 7,653 residents have recovered from the virus while 646 are in recovery. There have been 117,497 tests run.