Backlog of data again causes McHenry County positivity rate to spike

The rate of new COVID-19 cases in McHenry County continues to decline slowly after dropping precipitously over the prior two weeks, county data shows.

The level of COVID-19 transmission in McHenry County remained high Monday, according to McHenry County Department of Health data.

The McHenry County Department of Health reported 455 more cases of COVID-19 from over the weekend on Monday, bringing the total to 73,308, including 420 deaths and 41 deaths that likely were caused by COVID-19 but have not been confirmed. No additional deaths were reported Monday.

McHenry County’s incidence rate fell slightly Wednesday, marking the 18th day in a row of decreases, hitting 128.04 new cases over seven days per 100,000 residents, the last day for which data was reported, according to the McHenry County health department.

That is far below the peak on Jan. 13 of 2,236.49 new cases over seven days, which was the highest the county had seen over the previous 250 days, the time period published by the county. It remains above the threshold set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to indicate a high level of transmission within a community.

For transmission risk to meet the less severe category “substantial,” the county would need to see the incidence rate fall below 100 new cases over seven days per 100,000 residents and its positivity rate drop below 10%, according to the McHenry County health department. Both metrics then would need to stay below those levels for a week.

The test positivity rate for the county, as measured by a seven-day rolling average, sharply increased, reaching 15.9% Friday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. The region including both Lake and McHenry counties saw its test positivity rate increase to 11.3% Friday.

The increase is the result of another backlog of data entered by Des Plaines Laboratory, which the department continues to work with, IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said.

A backlog of data from the same laboratory led to another spike in the county’s positivity rate about two weeks ago.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in McHenry and Lake counties continued to fall, reaching 208 Sunday, IDPH data shows.

Hospitalizations, measured by a seven-day rolling average, have decreased 22 straight days in the two-county region, state data shows. It had been increasing every day since Dec. 26 before Jan. 14, reaching a pandemic high of 407 on Jan. 15.

Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties was 15% as of Sunday. It has been below the 20% threshold previously used by the state as a trigger point for imposing stricter COVID-19 health mitigations since Dec. 28.

In McHenry County alone, 4% of medical and surgical hospital beds remain available on average, according to the seven-day rolling mean the McHenry County health department reported Monday. An average of 13.3% of intensive care unit beds were available.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19-like illness decreased each of the past 10 days in the county as of Monday.

Statewide, the number of hospitalizations tied to COVID-19 rose Sunday to 2,744, the first increase in 24 days, the IDPH reported. Of those hospitalized, 511 patients were in the ICU and 291 were on ventilators.

An additional 1,658 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered to McHenry County residents since Friday, according to the IDPH, bringing the total number administered locally to 497,504. The state reported that 98,047 booster shots were administered in McHenry County.

A total of 195,673 county residents, or an estimated 63.41% of McHenry County’s population, now are fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve received all doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.

Statewide, 20,696,791 vaccines have been administered, according to state data.

Across Illinois, 80.3% of those age 5 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and 70.7% are fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Monday. Those rates are 84.3% and 74.6% for those age 12 and older, 85.7% and 75.9% for people 18 and older, and 95% and 87.2% for those age 65 and older, respectively.

Statewide, the IDPH tallied 13,953 total new cases of COVID-19 since Friday. Another 187 deaths also were logged over the weekend, bringing the totals to 2,971,516 cases, 31,483 confirmed deaths and 3,890 probable deaths.

Neighboring Lake County’s health department reported a total of 118,414 cases and 1,257 deaths through Friday. To the south, Kane County’s health department reported 121,322 cases and 1,050 deaths as of Friday.

Among McHenry County ZIP codes, Crystal Lake (60014) has the highest number of COVID-19 cases with a total of 11,950 confirmed, according to county data. McHenry (60050) follows with 8,332.

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: Woodstock (60098) 7,514 cases; Lake in the Hills (60156) 7,043; Huntley (60142) 5,868; Cary (60013) 5,553; Algonquin (60102) 5,206; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 4,500; Harvard (60033) 3,669; Marengo (60152) 2,656; Wonder Lake (60097) 2,593; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 2,564; Spring Grove (60081) 1,491; Fox River Grove (60021) 1,129; Island Lake (60042) 938; Richmond (60071) 695; Hebron (60034) 412; Barrington (60010) 294; Union (60180) 277; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 185.