COVID-19 across state, McHenry County continues to drop to levels not seen in months

The spread of COVID-19 in McHenry County remained at “low” for the second week in a row under thresholds set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was accompanied by several metrics across the state declining to levels not seen in several months.

The county’s case rate has steadily declined since the beginning of September, McHenry County Department of Health data showed. But despite the “low” spread, intensive care unit availability also has steadily declined since the beginning of the month, state data shows.

The “low” level of community transmission means the county saw fewer than 200 cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days; fewer than 10 new admissions, also per 100,000 residents; and less than 15% of its staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, according to the CDC.

As of Friday, McHenry County has seen 91,293 total COVID-19 cases, including 489 confirmed deaths and 48 deaths where COVID-19 likely was the cause but was not confirmed, the McHenry County Department of Health reported. No additional deaths have occurred since June 25.

The county saw 93.59 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of Sunday, down from 118.62 the week before, according to the incidence rate reported by the McHenry County health department. This is the first time since April the case rate fell below 100.

While the number of vaccines administered each week has long hovered around 1,000, the rollout of new boosters saw that number climb to about 4,000 for each of the past two weeks. This past week that number reached 3,837, bringing the total vaccines administered in McHenry County to 567,753, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported.

The state reported that 115,226 booster shots have been administered in the county.

A total of 204,622 people, about 66.31% of McHenry County’s population, are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, meaning they’ve received all doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.

Across Illinois, 82% of those age 5 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and 74.2% were fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Friday. Those rates were 85.7% and 77.6% for those age 12 and older, 87% and 78.7% for people age 18 and older and 95% and 90.1% for those 65 and older.

Most surrounding counties also were at the “low” community level, while Lake County had “medium” spread as of Friday, according to the CDC. Across Illinois, no counties show “high” community spread, down from three last week, while 20 counties were at the “medium” level, down from 33 last week.

The rate of new COVID-19 cases among 5- to 11-year-old children decreased in McHenry County over the past week, while the case rate for newborn to 4-year-olds and 12- to 17-year-olds rose, according to IDPH data.

The rate of cases among newborns to 4-year-olds in McHenry County was at 2.1 new cases a day, up from 1.6, according to the seven-day rolling average.

Cases among children ages 5 to 11 decreased to one new case each day from 1.3 the week before, and among 12- to 17-year-olds, the case rate rose to 2.1 new cases each day, compared with two the week before.

Countywide COVID-19 hospital admissions decreased to two new patients a day as of Tuesday, down from four a week earlier, according to the seven-day rolling averages reported by the IDPH.

Hospital ICU availability across McHenry and Lake counties was at 27% as of Thursday, up from 19% the previous week, according to the seven-day average reported by the IDPH.

Across Illinois, the number of new hospital admissions tied to COVID-19 was 78 daily as of Tuesday, down from 98 the week before, according to the seven-day rolling daily average reported by the IDPH.

Of the 899 people hospitalized for COVID-19 statewide, 130 were in the ICU and 31 were on ventilators as of Thursday. This week also was the first since May that less than 1,000 people were hospitalized due to COVID-19.

Illinois’ daily case rate stood at 12.3 new cases per 100,000 people, which is the lowest since April, according to the seven-day rolling average reported Friday, with 64 deaths reported in the past week, up from the previous week’s 62 deaths.

In neighboring Lake County, the health department reported a total of 161,423 cases and 1,452 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County has seen 153,996 cases and 1,171 deaths as of Friday, according to its health department.

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 15,061 confirmed, according to county data. McHenry (60050) follows with 10,377.

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) 9,503 cases; Lake in the Hills (60156) 8,976; Huntley (60142) 7,327; Cary (60013) 6,914; Algonquin (60102) 6,533; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 5,525; Harvard (60033) 4,190; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 3,292; Marengo (60152) 3,168; Wonder Lake (60097) 3,159; Spring Grove (60081) 1,853; Fox River Grove (60021) 1,378; Island Lake (60042) 1,195; Richmond (60071) 897; Hebron (60034) 493; Barrington (60010) 428; Union (60180) 351; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 235.