McHenry County reports 96 new COVID-19 cases

The McHenry County Department of Health reported 96 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and no additional deaths Tuesday.

This brings the county's totals to 16,850 cases, 176 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%.

The county's latest death because of COVID-19 was a man in his 80s, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

According to McHenry County's COVID-19 dashboard, 60.4% of deaths – 110 of 182 – have been associated with long-term care facilities while 79.1% of hospitalizations – 817 of 1,033 – were not.

McHenry County residents have been tested a total of 174,176 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 Tuesday, McHenry County's positivity rate was 11.8% and Region 9 was at 11.2%. Region 9 has now seen three straight days under the 12% threshold.

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

As of Tuesday, Region 9 was satisfying this metric for ICU beds (26.8%) and medical/surgical beds (22.8%). The availability of both in McHenry County, however, was below that threshold, at 14.6% and 12.6% respectively.

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

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 42,098 confirmed cases and 681 related deaths Tuesday.

The Kane County Health Department reported a total of 36,791 confirmed cases and 499 deaths.

Statewide, the IDPH reported a total of 863,477 confirmed cases and 14,509 related deaths. So far, Illinois has conducted 11,962,010 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 2,530 confirmed cases reported over the course of the pandemic, according to county data. Woodstock (60098) follows with 2,096 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) 1,705; Lake in the Hills (60156) 1,528; Huntley (60142) 1,274; Algonquin (60102) 1,252; Harvard (60033) 1,142; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 1,096; Cary (60013) 1,082; Marengo (60152) 697; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 561; Wonder Lake (60097) 525; Spring Grove (60081) 389; Island Lake (60042) 223; Richmond (60071) 199; Fox River Grove (60021) 181; Hebron (60034) 99; Union (60180) 65; Barrington (60010) 54; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 39.