While state COVID-19 hospitalizations trend down, DeKalb County region’s ICU beds remain scarce

DeKALB - While state leaders on Wednesday voiced cautious optimism about COVID-19 hospitalizations trending downward, local data shows ICU bed availability is still low, with five beds open in DeKalb County’s health region.

DeKalb County also reported nearly 200 more coronavirus cases, according to state data.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, 188 cases were reported in DeKalb County Wednesday, bringing the total case count to 20,071. There were no new deaths recorded Wednesday and the death toll remains at 164, according to the IDPH.

[ Illinois officials “cautiously optimistic” state is past omicron peak ]

Hospitalizations and positivity rate

As of Wednesday, there are five Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds available in the region, according to state data.

There were 192 more boosters administered to DeKalb County residents and 52 more became fully vaccinated.

DeKalb County continues to report a high community transmission of the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of Wednesday, the county reported about 890 cases per 100,000 residents and 41 new hospital admissions, down eight from Tuesday. According to the CDC, everyone in DeKalb County should wear masks in public indoor settings.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate for Region 1, which runs north to Rockford and west to the Iowa border, is 20.2%. The DeKalb County positivity rate is at 18%. Positivity rates are reported with a three-day data lag. Region 1 also reported a seven-day average of 313 COVID-19 patients hospitalized.

According to the IDPH, 138,479 total vaccine doses have been administered to DeKalb County residents and 55,820 residents – or 55.6% of the county’s population of 100,420, according to 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data – have been fully vaccinated. As of Wednesday, 25,128 booster shoots have been administered to county residents. The seven-day rolling average of doses administered to county residents is 287.

To date, 307,891 COVID-19 tests have been run on DeKalb County residents.

Vaccination by zip code

Updated vaccination by ZIP code data shows the percentages of residents in DeKalb County ZIP codes who have been fully vaccinated as of Jan. 19. This data is provisional and will be updated every Wednesday, according to the IDPH.

• 60111 (includes Clare) ZIP code, 99.33% of the population is fully vaccinated (100% of residents have had at least one dose)

• 60112 (Cortland) ZIP code, 60.74% is fully vaccinated

• 60115 (DeKalb) ZIP code, 48.59% is fully vaccinated

• 60135 (Genoa), 60.4% is fully vaccinated

• 60145 (Kingston), 44.48% is fully vaccinated

• 60146 (Kirkland, Fairdale), 44.29% is fully vaccinated

• 60150 (Malta), 52.19% is fully vaccinated

• 60151 (Maple Park), 56.83% is fully vaccinated

• 60178 (Sycamore), 64.41% is fully vaccinated

• 60520 (Hinckley), 54.59% is fully vaccinated

• 60548 (Sandwich), 53.12% is fully vaccinated

• 60550 (Shabbona), 47.59% is fully vaccinated

• 60552 (Somonauk), 50.92% is fully vaccinated

• 60556 (Waterman), 51.26% is fully vaccinated

Congregate care settings (updated every Friday)

The total care centers in in outbreak mode is 10, according to the DeKalb County Health Department. Some facilities’ vaccination data isn’t publicly available.

As of Jan. 14:

• Lincolnshire Place in Sycamore reports 15 cases, 11 in staff and four in residents.

• Oak Crest DeKalb Area Retirement Center in DeKalb reports 41 cases: 38 employees and three residents. According to the IDPH, 97.57% of Oak Crest employees are fully vaccinated, along with 100% of residents, as of Jan. 14.

• Prairie Crossing Rehabilitation in Shabbona reports 31 cases: 19 employees and 12 residents. 67.69% of employees are vaccinated, and 97.96% of residents.

• Grand Victorian in Sycamore reports 12 cases: 10 residents and two employees.

• DeKalb County Rehab and Nursing Center in DeKalb reports 41 cases: 38 employees and three residents, and one death. 78.82% of its employees are fully vaccinated, and 93.33% of residents.

• Heritage Woods in DeKalb reports 9 cases: two in residents and seven employee.

• Bethany Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in DeKalb reports 35 cases: 20 employees and 15 residents and one death, 90.24% of employees are fully vaccinated, and 81.33% of residents.

• Willow Crest Nursing Pavilion in Sandwich reports 70 cases: 21 staff members, 49 residents, and six resident deaths. 82.91% of staff are fully vaccinated, and 84.72% of residents.

• Sandwich Rehabilitation and Health Care Center reports six cases: six staff members, zero residents.

• Aperion Care in DeKalb reports 13 cases: six staff members, seven residents.

The state considers a facility in outbreak mode if new virus activity is reportedly linked to the facility within 30 days. If the facility goes 30 days without reporting new activity, it will be taken off the health department’s outbreak website, health officials have said.

The state does not update long-term care facility numbers if a person has fully recovered. The numbers remain listed in total through the duration of the outbreak.

Cases, deaths in DeKalb County

The following is a breakdown of cases and deaths from COVID-19, according to the DeKalb County Health Department, updated on Fridays:

As of Jan. 14, there have been 4,458 cases in residents age 19 or younger, 4,185 in their 20s, 2,949 in their 30s, 2,475 in their 40s, 2,272 in their 50s, 1,481 in their 60s, 766 in their 70s and 606 in their 80s or older.

Out of the 161 total deaths have been reported in DeKalb County by local health officials as of Jan. 14, 85 were in residents in their 80s or older, 25 were in their 70s, 27 in their 60s, 15 in their 50s, five in their 40s, two in their 30s, one in their 20s and one infant.

The ages for the three additional deaths over the weekend remain unavailable as of Wednesday.

Neither state nor local data specifies how many cases are linked to COVID-19 variants.

The IDPH reported that 2,709,474 Illinoisans have tested positive for COVID-19, while 29,510 have died statewide. The department reported that at least 48,960,282 tests have been administered to date.