McHenry County remains at ‘low’ COVID-19 transmission level; one additional death reported

For the second week in a row, McHenry County COVID-19 transmission levels stayed at the “low” level under thresholds set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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 hospital admissions, also per 100,000 residents; and less than 15% of its staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, according to the CDC.

No Illinois counties remained in the “high” transmission level and 20, or about one in five counties, were at the “medium” level as of Monday.

As of Thursday, McHenry County had seen 97,426 total COVID-19 cases, including 572 deaths in which COVID-19 was either confirmed or a likely case, the McHenry County Department of Health reported. One additional death was added to the total this week.

The county saw 65.5 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of Sunday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. That was down about 13% from the week before, when the case rate was at 74.9.

Countywide, COVID-19 hospital admissions totaled three new patients a day as of Tuesday, according to the seven-day rolling averages reported by the IDPH.

Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties was 18% as of Thursday, up from 20% at the last update, according to the seven-day average reported by the IDPH.

Across Illinois, the number of new hospital admissions tied to COVID-19 was 84 each day as of Tuesday, according to the seven-day rolling daily average reported by the IDPH.

Of the 883 people hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, 121 were in the ICU and 41 were on ventilators as of Thursday.

Illinois’ weekly case rate stood at 79.6 new cases per 100,000 people, according to the seven-day rolling average reported Monday. The state saw 76 deaths in the past week.

In neighboring Lake County, the health department reported a total of 174,621 cases and 1,519 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County had seen 162,593 cases and 1,206 deaths as of Friday, according to its health department.