McHenry County COVID-19 case rate continues to rise, fives times higher over the past month

The rate of new COVID-19 cases in McHenry County increased by 40% since last week and increased by a factor of five over the course of April, county health department data shows.

The increase comes as the level COVID-19 spread in the county rose to medium from low, the McHenry County Department of Health reported Friday. McHenry County is one of 13 counties statewide to now see medium spread.

That means the county saw more than 200 cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days; the number of people being admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 was fewer than 10 per 100,000 residents, also over seven days; and the percentage of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients was less than 10%, as measured by a seven-day average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The county’s COVID-19 incidence rate was 222.61 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of May 1, up from 159.56 a week before and the highest total since Feb. 14, county data shows.

The rate of COVID-19 cases among older children in McHenry County also rose, Illinois Department of Public Health data shows.

Children 5 to 11 years old saw their rate of new cases in the county rise over the past week to 16.6 new cases each day from nine a week before, according to the seven-day rolling averages reported Friday by the IDPH. The case rate for kids 12 to 17 years old rose to 11 new cases each day as of Friday, up from 5.3 the week before.

Cases among newborns to 4-year-olds decreased to 3.7 new cases each day compared with 4.3 the week before, according to state data.

The seven-day rolling average for new hospital admissions in McHenry County was four COVID-19 patients as of Tuesday, up from one the week before, the IDPH reported. Until Tuesday, the average had stayed between one and three since Feb. 17.

Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties declined to 28% as of Thursday, down from 30% a week earlier, according to the seven-day average reported by the IDPH.

Across Illinois, the seven-day rolling average for the number of new hospital admissions tied to COVID-19 was 67 as of Tuesday, the IDPH reported. Of the 808 hospitalized for COVID-19, 66 were in the ICU and 24 were on ventilators as of Thursday.

An additional 2,864 vaccines were administered in McHenry County in the past week, bringing the total to 526,932 in the county, the IDPH reported. The state reported that 107,245 booster shots have been administered in the county.

A total of 201,590, or an estimated 65.33% of McHenry County’s population, now are fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve received all doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.

Across Illinois, 81.5% of those age 5 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and 73.1% are fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Friday. Those rates are 85.4% and 76.6% for those age 12 and older, 86.9% and 77.8% for people age 18 and older, and 95% and 88.8% for those 65 and older, respectively.

Illinois’ seven-day rolling average for case rate stood at 34.3 cases per 100,000 people as of Friday, with 46 deaths reported in the past week. Illinois now has seen 3,169,315 COVID-19 cases, 33,660 confirmed deaths and 4,296 deaths where COVID-19 was the probable cause but not confirmed.

McHenry County has now seen 78,336 total COVID-19 cases, including 483 confirmed deaths and 45 deaths where COVID-19 was likely the cause but was not confirmed as of Friday.

Two new deaths in the county were reported in the past week, both of which occurred in late April, county data shows. Overall, five deaths have been recorded for April so far.

Neighboring Lake County’s health department reported a total of 129,575 cases and 1,380 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County’s health department reported 130,090 cases and 1,127 deaths as of Thursday.

Among McHenry County ZIP codes, Crystal Lake (60014) has the highest total number of COVID-19 cases over the course of the pandemic with a total of 12,813 confirmed, according to county data. McHenry (60050) follows with 8,958.

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) 8,028 cases; Lake in the Hills (60156) 7,580; Huntley (60142) 6,332; Cary (60013) 5,953; Algonquin (60102) 5,530; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 4,765; Harvard (60033) 3,830; Marengo (60152) 2,792; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 2,791; Wonder Lake (60097) 2,737; Spring Grove (60081) 1,568; Fox River Grove (60021) 1,208; Island Lake (60042) 1,011; Richmond (60071) 746; Hebron (60034) 438; Barrington (60010) 357; Union (60180) 303; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 203.