McHenry County COVID-19 case, hospital admission rate still rising

No new deaths reported in the past week in McHenry County, health department data shows

Registered nurses Carolyn Doetsch, left, and Justine Heggem put on personal protective equipment prior to entering a patient's room at Northwest Medicine Huntley Hospital on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Huntley.

The rate of new COVID-19 cases in McHenry County increased by 39% since last week as the rate of new hospitalizations also rose, county and state health department data shows.

The county’s COVID-19 incidence rate was 293.13 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of Sunday, up from 216.11 a week before and the highest it’s been since Feb. 11, according to McHenry County Department of Health data.

McHenry County now has seen 79,361 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. No new deaths were reported in the last week.

The level COVID-19 stayed at medium, a level the McHenry County health department first reported one week ago.

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.

McHenry County now is one of 23 counties statewide to see medium spread, Illinois Department of Public Health data shows.

The rate of COVID-19 cases among 12- to 17-year-olds in McHenry County rose and fell over the course of the week, ending at 11 new cases each day as of Friday, the same as one week earlier, IDPH data shows.

Children 5 to 11 years old saw their rate of new cases in the county fall over the past week from 16.6 new cases each day to 14.3, according to the seven-day rolling averages reported Friday by the state.

Cases among newborns to 4-year-olds increased to 5.6 new cases each day compared with 3.7 the week before, according to state data.

Hospital admissions tied to COVID-19 have been rising, with the seven-day rolling average hitting four new patients per day as of Tuesday, the eighth consecutive day at that level, the IDPH reported. Until May 3, the average had stayed between one and three since Feb. 17.

Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties declined to 25% as of Thursday, down from 28% 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 79 as of Tuesday, the IDPH reported. Of the 909 hospitalized for COVID-19, 87 were in the ICU and 25 were on ventilators as of Thursday.

An additional 1,772 vaccines were administered in McHenry County in the past week, bringing the total to 528,704 in the county, the IDPH reported. The state reported that 107,505 booster shots have been administered in the county.

A total of 201,747, or an estimated 65.38% of McHenry County’s population, now are fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve received all doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.

Across Illinois, 81.7% of those age 5 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and 73.4% are fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Friday. Those rates are 85.6% and 76.9% for those age 12 and older, 87% and 78.2% for people age 18 and older, and 95% and 89.2% for those 65 and older, respectively.

Illinois’ daily case rate stood at 44.9 new cases per 100,000 people, according to the seven-day rolling average reported Friday, with 45 deaths reported in the past week. Illinois now has seen 3,209,341 COVID-19 cases, 33,705 confirmed deaths and 4,300 deaths where COVID-19 was the probable cause but not confirmed.

Neighboring Lake County’s health department reported a total of 131,922 cases and 1,382 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County’s health department reported 131,760 cases and 1,127 deaths as of Friday.

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 13,012 confirmed, according to county data. McHenry (60050) follows with 9,077.

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) 8,124 cases; Lake in the Hills (60156) 7,697; Huntley (60142) 6,426; Cary (60013) 6,027; Algonquin (60102) 5,619; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 4,826; Harvard (60033) 3,869; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 2,837; Marengo (60152) 2,817; Wonder Lake (60097) 2,756; Spring Grove (60081) 1,589; Fox River Grove (60021) 1,219; Island Lake (60042) 1,014; Richmond (60071) 756; Hebron (60034) 444; Barrington (60010) 368; Union (60180) 302; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 205.