McHenry County reports 269 new COVID-19 cases

The McHenry County Department of Health reported another 269 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

The total cases in McHenry County now numbers 32,082, including 301 deaths and 30 deaths that likely were caused by COVID-19 but could not be confirmed. No additional deaths were reported Wednesday 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 150.46 per 100,000 residents as of Thursday, 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 residents.

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.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Lake and McHenry Counties, which are both in health region nine, have a positivity rate of 4.4%.

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 193 COVID-19 vaccines were administered to McHenry County residents on Wednesday, bringing the total number of doses administered to 339,727, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported.

A total of 167,499 county residents, or an estimated 54.28% of its population, now are fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve received all the doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.

Statewide, 14,099,513 vaccines have been administered, according to state data.

Across Illinois, 77.8% of those age 12 and older have received at least one vaccine dose, and 60.4% are fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Tuesday. Those rates are 79.3% and 62.1% for people 18 and older and 94% and 77.2% for those 65 and older.

Intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties climbed above the 20% benchmark over the weekend to 22% Monday, above the pandemic-era low of 15% hit in late August.

There have been patient increases five out of the last 10 days across McHenry and Lake counties, reaching 137 across the two-county region Tuesday, according to state and county data.

Statewide, the number of hospitalizations increased to 2,327 on Tuesday. Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 565 were in ICUs and 343 were on ventilators.

The IDPH also reported 3,961 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 statewide Tuesday. Another 61 deaths also were logged, bringing the totals to 1,550,375 cases, 24,194 confirmed deaths and 2,575 probable deaths.

Neighboring Lake County’s health department reported 67,742 cases and 1,049 deaths through Tuesday, and to the south, Kane County’s health department reported 64,230 cases and 832 deaths on Wednesday.

Among McHenry County ZIP codes, Crystal Lake (60014) has the highest number of COVID-19 cases with a total of 4,924 confirmed cases, according to county data. Woodstock (60098) follows with 3,688 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) 3,357; Lake in the Hills (60156) 2,995; Huntley (60142) 2,401; Algonquin (60102) 2,373; Cary (60013) 2,261; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 2,151; Harvard (60033) 1,672; Marengo (60152) 1,320; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 1,107; Wonder Lake (60097) 1,040; Spring Grove (60081) 820; Island Lake (60042) 462; Fox River Grove (60021) 416; Richmond (60071) 362; Hebron (60034) 200; Barrington (60010) 170; Union (60180) 147; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 70.