McHenry County reports 1 more COVID-19 death as spread remains ‘low’

For five weeks in a row, McHenry County’s 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 at a “high” level of transmission, and 20 were at the “medium” level as of Thursday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. All counties neighboring McHenry County were low.

As of Thursday, McHenry County had seen 98,057 total COVID-19 cases, including 576 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 McHenry County Department of Health reports one additional death to the total this week.

The county saw 74.5 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of Sunday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. That was up from the week before, when the case rate was at 70.

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

Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties was 25% as of Thursday, down from 28% 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 94 each day as of Tuesday, according to the seven-day rolling daily average reported by the IDPH.

Of the 959 people hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, 108 were in the ICU and 41 were on ventilators as of Thursday.

Illinois’ weekly case rate stood at 88.3 new cases per 100,000 people, according to the seven-day rolling average reported Sunday. The state saw 37 deaths in the past week.

In neighboring Lake County, the health department reported a total of 176,088 cases and 1,524 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County had seen 162,733 cases and 1,212 deaths as of Feb. 17, according to its health department.