DeKalb County woman in her 70s dies from COVID-19 Thursday, bringing local death toll to 48

A woman in her 70s has died from complications due to the novel coronavirus, marking the 48th DeKalb County resident to die from COVID-19, health officials announced on Thursday.

The DeKalb County Health Department reported 76 new cases on Thursday, a day after reporting the lowest number of cases in almost a month. That brings the total to 5,368 cases locally, with nearly half of those cases identified in November alone.

The death Thursday was not linked to any long-term care facility in the county, according to the health department.

There were also eight new cases reported at county long-term care facilities, including four at Lincolnshire, all in residents. Bethany Rehabilitation and Health Care Center had three new cases, one in staff and two in residents. Prairie Crossing had one in a resident.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate in the county rose to 14.4%, up from 12.2% the day before thanks to a 17.3% single-day positivity rate on Monday, the most recent day available due to a three-day lag in state data. The positivity rate for Region 1, which includes DeKalb, rose to 15.4%.

By the numbers

To date, there are eight long-term care facilities in outbreak mode in DeKalb County.

DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in DeKalb reports 28 cases (26 in staff, two in a resident), Oak Crest-DeKalb Area Retirement Center in DeKalb reports 47 cases (22 in staff, 25 in residents with one death), Bethany Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in DeKalb reports 31 cases (24 in staff, seven in residents), Prairie Crossing Living and Rehabilitation Center in Shabbona reports 50 cases (15 in staff, 35 residents), and Heritage Woods in DeKalb reports seven cases (five in staff, two in residents). Lincolnshire Place in Sycamore reports 34 cases (12 in staff, 22 in residents). Sandwich Rehabilitation reports four cases (three in staff and one resident) and Willow Crest Nursing Pavilion in Sandwich reports two cases (one each in an employee and resident).

In total, there have been 894 cases in DeKalb County residents 19 or younger, 1,293 in their 20s, 769 in their 30s, 795 in their 40s, 708 in their 50s, 456 in their 60s, 242 in their 70s and 211 in their 80s or older.

To date, there have been 27 deaths reported in DeKalb County residents in their 80s, seven in their 70s, seven in their 60s, four in their 50s, two in their 40s, one in their 30s and one infant.

According to county data, DeKalb has seen between 2,346 and 2,350 cases. There are between 1,126 and 1,130 cases in Sycamore, 446 to 450 in Sandwich and Plano (listed as one region on the site), 436 to 440 in Genoa, 251 and 255 cases in Cortland, 136 and 140 cases in Kirkland, 126 and 130 in Kingston, 116 and 120 cases in Hinckley, 76 to 80 cases in Somonauk, 71 and 75 in Malta, 56 and 60 in Waterman and Shabbona, 36 and 40 in Maple Park, 11 and 15 in Clare and six and 10 in Esmond and Earlville. Lee, Leland and Marengo and Rochelle each report between one and five cases.

The DeKalb County website lists residents that only live within the county lines for a municipality, while the IDPH website lists everyone within a certain ZIP code. Numbers also may vary because of data lags.

The 60115 ZIP code, including DeKalb, had 2,267 cases reported and 33,490 tests administered (a positivity rate of 6.8%); the 60178 ZIP code, including Sycamore, had 1,138 cases and 12,384 tests (9.2%); the 60111 ZIP code, including Clare, reported 16 cases and 153 tests (10.5%); the 60112 ZIP code, including Cortland, had 249 cases and 2,649 tests (9.4%); the 60135 ZIP code, including Genoa, had 435 cases and 3,993 tests (10.9%); the 60145 ZIP code, including Kingston, had 123 cases and 1,088 tests (11.3%); the 60146 ZIP code, including Kirkland, had 152 cases and 1,502 tests (10.1%); the 60150 ZIP code, including Malta, had 66 cases and 875 tests (7.5%); the 60151 ZIP code, including parts of Maple Park in both DeKalb and Kane counties, had 178 cases and 1,984 tests (9.0%); the 60520 ZIP code, including Hinckley, had 113 cases and 1,376 tests (8.2%); the 60548 ZIP code, including Sandwich, had 680 cases and 7,747 tests (8.8%); the 60550 ZIP code, including Shabbona, had 60 cases and 880 tests (6.8%); and the 60556 ZIP code, including Waterman, had 59 cases and 779 tests (7.6%).

The IDPH reported 759,562 people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19 to date, while 12,830 people have died statewide. There have been 10,806,364 tests performed.

The entire state moved to Tier 3 mitigation measures Nov. 20 to help stop the spread of COVID-19, including a continued prohibition on indoor dining at bars and restaurants, closures of gaming facilities and casinos and capping all gatherings to 10 or fewer, with officials urging residents to stay at home unless necessary and avoid holiday travel or family gatherings. DeKalb County’s health region has been under enhanced mitigations since Oct. 3. Under the new restrictions, each of the 11 health care regions can independently have restrictions eased if metrics improve.

In order for the region to move back to Tier 2 mitigation measures, with no restrictions on retail stores, gyms, casinos, gaming facilities, etc., the region needs to report three consecutive days of the regional positivity of rate less than 12%. In order to lift restrictions on bars and restaurants, the region’s rates need to be below 8%. Region 1′s seven-day rate has not dropped below 8% since mitigation measures first went into effect Oct. 3.