McHenry County reports 496 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the weekend

The McHenry County Department of Health reported 496 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the weekend. This includes cases reported Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

No additional deaths were reported.

This brings the county's totals to 15,587 confirmed cases, 163 related deaths and six additional deaths where the cause was likely COVID-19 but not confirmed. The county's recovery rate currently sits at 98%.

According to McHenry County's COVID-19 dashboard, 65% of deaths – 108 of 163 – have been associated with long-term care facilities while 78% of hospitalizations – 769 of 981 – were not.

McHenry County residents have been tested a total of 161,586 times since the pandemic began, according to county-specific data collected by the IDPH.

To see definitions of key terms used in our COVID-19 updates, read this article titled, "Feeling lost in keeping up with the news?"

Tier 3 of the IDPH's COVID-19 mitigation measures took effect across the state Nov. 20.

The new restrictions shut down a few industries, such as casinos and theaters, and tightened capacity restrictions on many others.

In order to move to Tier 2, which is less restrictive, Region 9 (McHenry and Lake counties) must meet three metrics tracked by the IDPH.

First, the region must report a seven-day average test positivity rate of less than 12% for three consecutive days. As of Monday, McHenry County's positivity rate was 14.7% and Region 9 was at 12.3%.

Second, both intensive care unit and medical/surgical bed availability must be greater than 20% for three consecutive days.

As of Monday, Region 9 was satisfying this metric for ICU beds (26.8%) but not medical/surgical beds, which recently increased to 20.7% with only one day above the threshold. The availability of both in McHenry County was lower, at 15.4% and 3.5% respectively.

Third, the region must show a decline in average COVID-19 hospitalizations for seven out of the past 10 days. On Monday, Region 9 reported seven days of decreases in hospital admissions for COVID-19 out of the past 10 days, satisfying this metric.

Gov. JB Pritzker said Nov. 30, however, none of the state's 11 health care regions would advance to Tier 2 mitigations "for a few weeks" even if they hit the necessary metrics because of Thanksgiving holiday gatherings.

Confused about the different tiers and phases of the governor's COVID-19 response? Read this explanation of the Restore Illinois plan and its metrics.

The Lake County Health Department reported a total of 39,014 confirmed cases and 648 related deaths Monday.

The Kane County Health Department has reported a total of 33,252 confirmed cases and 452 deaths on Friday, which is the last time the data had been updated as of Monday evening.

Statewide, the IDPH reported a total of 796,264 confirmed cases and 13,343 related deaths. So far, Illinois has conducted 11,178,783 COVID-19 tests. The statewide recovery rate is 97%.

Among McHenry County ZIP codes, Crystal Lake (60014) has the highest number of COVID-19 cases with a total of 2,347 confirmed cases reported over the course of the pandemic, according to county data. Woodstock (60098) follows with 1,941 cases.

The McHenry County health department reports only ZIP code data that is located within McHenry County, a department spokeswoman said. Any discrepancies between county and IDPH numbers likely are because of the data's provisional nature and because each health department finalizes its data at different times, she said.

The following is the rest of the local breakdown of cases by ZIP code: McHenry (60050) 1,539; Lake in the Hills (60156) 1,428; Huntley (60142) 1,196; Algonquin (60102) 1,169; Harvard (60033) 1,075; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 1,011; Cary (60013) 969; Marengo (60152) 646; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 508; Wonder Lake (60097) 492; Spring Grove (60081) 359; Island Lake (60042) 215; Richmond (60071) 180; Fox River Grove (60021) 171; Hebron (60034) 94; Union (60180) 57; Barrington (60010) 50; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 35.