ICUs availability in McHenry, Lake counties falls again

Intensive care unit availability in McHenry and Lake counties fell again Monday to 17%, according to state data, after being above the 20% benchmark for most of September.

The region had fallen below the 20% mark, which the state had used as trigger point for adding restrictions on gathering and business activity, for the first time over the course of the pandemic in mid-August before climbing to 22% this past week. It dropped below the threshold again Sunday.

The total number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 increased each of the last three 10 days across McHenry and Lake counties, reaching 139 Monday, the most since Feb. 9, according to state and county data.

In McHenry County alone, 35.4% of ICU beds and 7.2% of medical and surgical beds remained available, according to the McHenry County Department of Health. Hospitalizations have increased two out of the last 10 days in McHenry County, according to county data.

Statewide, the number of hospitalizations tied to COVID-19 increased to 2,263 on Monday. Of those, 547 were in ICUs and 314 were on ventilators, both down from Monday’s reports.

The McHenry County Department of Health on Tuesday reported another 63 new COVID-19 cases.

Total cases in McHenry County now number 32,554, including 301 deaths and 30 deaths that likely were caused by COVID-19 but could not be confirmed. No additional deaths were reported Tuesday, and the county’s recovery rate remains at 99%.

The McHenry County Department of Health did not update its school metrics dashboard, which shows the level of COVID-19 transmission within the community, as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.

It remained in the “high” category due to the county’s incidence rate – the number of new cases in the past seven days per 100,000 residents – was 147.86 per 100,000 residents as of Wednesday, the most recent day for which data is available, the dashboard shows.

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.

McHenry County’s positivity rate was 4.7% as of Saturday, the 10th day it has been within the low transmission range of 0% to 4.9%, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. The positivity rate is measured by a seven-day rolling average with a three-day lag.

Region 9, which is made up of Lake and McHenry counties, had a positivity rate of 4.3% as of Saturday, according to IDPH.

Both the CDC and McHenry County health department use the incidence rate and positivity rate to categorize COVID-19 transmission. When the two metrics do not fall within the same transmission risk category, the higher one is chosen, according to the McHenry County health department.

Meanwhile, an additional 378 COVID-19 vaccines were administered to McHenry County residents Monday, bringing the total number of doses administered to 342,355, IDPH reported.

A total of 168,922 county residents, or an estimated 54.74% of its population, now are fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve received all the doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.

Statewide, 14,218,536 vaccines have been administered, according to state data.

Across Illinois, 78.3% of those age 12 and older have received at least one vaccine dose, and 61% are fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Tuesday. Those rates are 79.9% and 62.6% for people 18 and older and 94.3% and 77.5% for those 65 and older.

The IDPH also reported 4,660 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 statewide Tuesday. Another 40 confirmed deaths also were logged, bringing the totals to 1,578,198 cases, 24,407 confirmed deaths and 2,601 probable deaths.

Neighboring Lake County’s health department reported 68,575 cases and 1,055 deaths as of Monday, and to the south, Kane County’s health department reported Monday that it had 64,802 cases and 837 deaths.

Among McHenry County ZIP codes, Crystal Lake (60014) has the highest number of COVID-19 cases with a total of 4,983 confirmed cases, according to county data. Woodstock (60098) follows with 3,737 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) 3,439; Lake in the Hills (60156) 3,018; Huntley (60142) 2,432; Algonquin (60102) 2,406; Cary (60013) 2,290; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 2,195; Harvard (60033) 1,693; Marengo (60152) 1,333; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 1,121; Wonder Lake (60097) 1,062; Spring Grove (60081) 832; Island Lake (60042) 472; Fox River Grove (60021) 429; Richmond (60071) 366; Hebron (60034) 203; Barrington (60010) 172; Union (60180) 147; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 72.