COVID-19 spread in McHenry County remains low for 9th straight week

For nine straight weeks, McHenry County’s COVID-19 transmission levels stayed “low” 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 were considered at a “high” level of transmission, and 12 were at the “medium” level as of Tuesday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. All counties neighboring McHenry County except for Boone County were low.

As of Thursday, McHenry County had seen 98,801 total COVID-19 cases, including 581 deaths in which COVID-19 was either confirmed or a likely case, the McHenry County Department of Health reported. No additional deaths were added to the total this week.

McHenry County Coroner Michael Rein on Wednesday also released updated COVID-19 deaths data fielded by his office, which includes deaths that took place in McHenry County compared with the health department that reports the deaths of all resident regardless of where they died.

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COVID-19 was the primary cause of death for three McHenry County residents who died in the county, Rein said in the release. One occurred in January, and two were in March.

In 2021, COVID-19 was the primary cause of death for 112 people who died in McHenry County, 92 of whom were McHenry County residents, 10 of whom were from Lake County and three of whom were from Kane County, the coroner reported.

In 2020, COVID-19 was the primary cause of death for 149 people who died in McHenry County, 120 of whom were McHenry County residents, 11 from Lake County and 10 from Kane County.

In 2021, 79% of those who died from COVID-19 did so in a hospital compared with 59% in 2020, according to the coroner’s data. Much of the difference comes from nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, which saw 12% of deaths in 2021 compared with 30% in 2020.

The county saw 59 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of Sunday, according to the IDPH. That was down from the week before, when the case rate was at 63.2.

Countywide, COVID-19 hospital admissions totaled four new patients a day as of Tuesday, up from two the week before, according to the seven-day rolling averages the IDPH reported.

Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties was 31% as of Thursday, down from 33% last week, according to the seven-day average reported by the IDPH.

Across Illinois, the number of new hospital admissions tied to COVID-19 was 86 each day as of Tuesday, according to the seven-day rolling daily average the IDPH reported.

Of the 810 people hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, 94 were in the ICU and 34 were on ventilators as of Thursday.

Illinois’ weekly case rate stood at 67.2 new cases per 100,000 people, according to the seven-day rolling average reported Sunday. The state saw 39 deaths in the past week.

In neighboring Lake County, the health department reported a total of 177,732 cases and 1,532 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County had seen 163,007 cases and 1,221 deaths as of Friday, according to its health department.