McHenry County reports 93 new COVID-19 cases

The number of new COVID-19 cases in McHenry County has remained relatively steady for about two weeks even as the total number of tests conducted locally rose, pushing down the positivity rate.

McHenry County residents got tested 1,844 times for COVID-19 Tuesday, a number that’s been trending upward since about mid-July when the number of tests being done hovered around 500, Illinois Department of Public Health data shows.

Despite the climbing number of tests, the number of new cases has remained relatively level with another 93 cases logged Friday by the McHenry County Department of Health.

The total of cases in McHenry County now numbers 31,813, including 301 deaths and 30 deaths that likely were caused by COVID-19 but could not be confirmed. No additional deaths were reported Friday, and the county’s recovery rate remains at 99%.

The county’s incidence rate – the number of new cases in the past seven days per 100,000 residents – was 150.79 per 100,000 residents as of Sunday, the most recent day for which data is available, according to the McHenry County health department’s school metrics dashboard.

That’s well above the threshold for designating transmission as “high” set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For spread to meet the less severe category “substantial,” the incidence rate would need to fall below 100 new cases over seven days per 100,000

Both the CDC and McHenry County health department use the incidence rate and positivity rate to categorize COVID-19 transmission. The positivity rate is measured by a seven-day rolling average with a three-day lag.

It fell to 5.3% Tuesday, still within the “moderate” transmission range of 5% to 7.9%. It’s the county’s lowest positivity rate since July 26.

When the positivity rate and incidence rate do not fall within the same transmission risk category, the higher one is chosen, according to the McHenry County health department.

Meanwhile, an additional 577 COVID-19 vaccines were administered to McHenry County residents Thursday, bringing the total number of doses administered to 337,480, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported.

A total of 166,529 county residents, or an estimated 53.97% of its population, now are fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve received all the doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.

Statewide, 14,005,857 vaccines have been administered, according to state data.

Across Illinois, 77.1% of those age 12 and older have received at least one vaccine dose, and 60% are fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Friday. Those rates are 78.7% and 61.7% for people 18 and older and 93.7% and 77% for those 65 and older.

Intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties went up slightly to 19% Thursday, above the pandemic-era low of 15% hit in late August.

In McHenry County alone, 30.3% of ICU beds and 4.6% of medical and surgical beds remained available, according to the McHenry County Department of Health.

While hospitalizations have not increased any of the last 10 days in McHenry County, they have increased nine out of the last 10 days across McHenry and Lake counties, reaching 135 across the two-county region Thursday, according to state and county data.

Statewide, the number of hospitalizations statewide increased to 2,286 Thursday, the highest since April 19. Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 551 were in ICUs, the highest since Jan. 27, and 302 were on ventilators, the most since Jan. 25.

[ New COVID-19 cases in Illinois children continue to climb ]

The IDPH also reported 5,980 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 statewide on Friday. Another 37 deaths also were logged, bringing the totals to 1,538,324 cases, 24,067 confirmed deaths and 2,547 probable deaths.

Neighboring Lake County’s health department reported 67,109 cases and 1,046 deaths through Thursday, and to the south, Kane County’s health department reported 63,600 cases and 829 deaths as of Thursday.

Among McHenry County ZIP codes, Crystal Lake (60014) has the highest number of COVID-19 cases with a total of 4,881 confirmed cases, according to county data. Woodstock (60098) follows with 3,661 cases.

The McHenry County health department reports ZIP code data only for parts within McHenry County, a department spokeswoman said. Any discrepancies between county and IDPH numbers likely are because of the data’s provisional nature and because each health department finalizes its data at different times, she said.

The following is the rest of the local breakdown of cases by ZIP code: McHenry (60050) 3,323; Lake in the Hills (60156) 2,984; Huntley (60142) 2,382; Algonquin (60102) 2,356; Cary (60013) 2,245; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 2,127, Harvard (60033) 1,661; Marengo (60152) 1,307; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 1,102; Wonder Lake (60097) 1,031; Spring Grove (60081) 813; Island Lake (60042) 450; Fox River Grove (60021) 407; Richmond (60071) 358; Hebron (60034) 197; Barrington (60010) 170; Union (60180) 145; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 70.