DeKalb County woman in her 40s dies from COVID-19; six more cases announced Wednesday

DeKALB – The DeKalb County Health Department announced another resident has died from complications due to the novel coronavirus Wednesday.

County health officials said the deceased was a DeKalb County woman in her 40s who previously tested positive for COVID-19, according to a Wednesday news release from the agency.

There are six new cases of COVID-19 within DeKalb County being reported by the agency Wednesday. Among the new cases include two in their 20s, one in their 30s, two residents in their 40s and one in their 60s.

In total as of Wednesday, there are 13 deaths and 488 total cases in the county. Health department officials reported on their website 198 positive cases have fully covered and 259 are in the recovery period as of Friday.

The total cases in the county include 37 in residents under 19, 110 in residents in their 20s, 91 in residents in their 30s, 77 in residents in their 40s, 68 in residents in their 50s, 33 in their 60s, 34 in their 70s, and 37 over 80.

No new cases or deaths were reported linked to any longterm care facilities in the county Wednesday.

Currently, there are 74 cases at Pine Acres Rehab and Living Center and eight deaths at the facility as of Tuesday. DeKalb County Rehab and Nursing Center is still reporting three positive cases, all among employees, and Bethany Rehabilitation & Health Care Center reports two positive cases, both of which are employees.

The 13 deaths from COVID-19 in the county also include a man and woman in their 50s, a man and woman in their 60s, a woman in her 70s and three women in their 90s. Health officials confirmed a death of another DeKalb County resident Monday but did not specify age or gender of the individual.

According to the county's weekly recovery and testing update, there have been 6,632 total tests administered in DeKalb County for a positivity rate of 7% as of Friday.

DeKalb is reporting between 266 and 270 cases of COVID-19, according to updated municipality data on the county site. That differs from Tuesday, when there were between 261 and 265 cases reported in the area.

According to the county site, Sycamore reported between 56 and 60 cases. Cortland reported between 31 and 35 cases and Somonauk reported between six and 10 cases.

Sandwich and Plano are reported to have between 51 and 55 cases, per the website. Genoa has between 31 and 35 cases, and Kingston and Hinckley are reported to have between six and 10 cases. Kirkland, Esmond, Malta, Maple Park, Shabbona and Waterman each report between one and five cases.

The Illinois Department of Public Health lists cases and tests performed by ZIP code, while the county health department lists cases by municipality. Numbers vary from state and health departments due to data lags.

The 60115 ZIP code (including DeKalb) had 257 cases reported and 2,882 tests administered. The 60178 ZIP Code (including Sycamore) has 55 cases and 1,089 tests. The 60135 ZIP code (including Genoa) has 32 cases and 413 tests, the 60145 ZIP code (including Kingston) has six cases and 102 tests, and the 60146 ZIP code (including Kirkland) has eight cases and 143 tests.

In total, IDPH reports 129,837 people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19, while 6,095 people have died statewide. As of Wednesday, 1,100,002 tests have been performed. The site also lists statewide recovery rates, calculated by recovered cases divided by the sum of recovered cases and deceased cases. It remained at 92%.

As DeKalb County now looks to Phase 4 of Gov. JB Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan, criteria will need to be met on contact tracing – how health care professionals track who a COVID-19 positive patient may have exposed and when – and testing capabilities. The county health department now looks to hire a contract tracer to aid the new requirements.

COVID-19 testing is being conducted at Northwestern Medicine health system hospitals and private lab facilities, including through Physicians Immediate Care and the Center for Family Health in Sycamore, which are prioritizing high-risk patients, first responders and health care workers and those experiencing severe symptoms.