McHenry County remains in ‘medium’ transmission levels as more counties move to ‘high’

COVID-19 transmission levels remained at the “medium” level in McHenry County for the sixth consecutive week under thresholds set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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

As of Thursday, McHenry County had seen 96,486 total COVID-19 cases, including 566 deaths where COVID-19 was either confirmed or a likely case, the McHenry County Department of Health reported. No additional deaths were reported in the past week after last week 29 additional deaths were reported since June.

The county saw 121.5 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of Sunday, down from 137.4 a week before, according to the case rate reported by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

McHenry County has not updated the incidence rate on its COVID-19 dashboard since Dec. 15.

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

Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties was 23% as of Thursday, up from 22% the week before, according to the seven-day average reported by the IDPH.

Across Illinois, the number of new hospital admissions tied to COVID-19 was 166 each day as of Tuesday, up from 157 the week before, according to the seven-day rolling daily average reported by the IDPH.

Of the 1,766 people hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, 233 were in the ICU and 77 were on ventilators as of Thursday.

Illinois’ weekly case rate stood at 127.8 new cases per 100,000 people, according to the seven-day rolling average reported Friday. The state saw 20 deaths in the past week.

In neighboring Lake County, the health department reported a total of 172,348 cases and 1,499 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County had seen 162,191 cases and 1,195 deaths as of Tuesday, according to its health department.