IDPH: Two new outbreaks reported at McHenry County schools

Two new COVID-19 outbreaks were reported at McHenry County schools this week, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported, including one at the Oak Knoll Early Childhood Center in Cary and Chauncey H. Duker School in McHenry.

The outbreak reported Wednesday at Oak Knoll included fewer than five cases among students and staff and was tied to the classroom, according to the IDPH’s weekly update on youth-related outbreaks. This is the school’s first COVID-19 outbreak this academic year.

The outbreak involved three confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a single classroom, Cary School District 26 Superintendent Brian Coleman said.

An outbreak is defined as three or more cases within 14 cases where the people involved are connected in some way – for example, a shared classroom, school bus or club.

“We are working directly with the [McHenry County] health department, and the classroom will remain open for in-person learning,” Coleman said in an email.

The students and families directly affected have been contacted, and the district continues to monitor the situation closely, he said. The affected classroom underwent a deep cleaning, which involved the use of an electrostatic sprayer on all surface areas, proper ventilation and Environmental Protection Agency-approved cleaning products.

All families are encouraged to continue to monitor their children for symptoms of COVID-19, Coleman said. Any time a child develops any COVID-19 symptoms, even if only a runny nose or cold-like symptom, parents have been asked to keep their child home from school, contact the school nurse and their medical provider, and consider getting their child tested.

The other outbreak, reported Wednesday at Chauncey H. Duker School, involves fewer than five cases among students and also was tied to the classroom, according to the IDPH’s report. This is the school’s fifth outbreak, according to Northwest Herald archives.

An attempt to reach McHenry School District 15′s superintendents Friday was unsuccessful.

The other outbreaks that remained active as of Thursday, according to the IDPH, included one at Crystal Lake Central High School with seven cases among staff and students, one at Edgebrook Elementary School in McHenry with five cases among staff and students, one at Heineman Middle School in Algonquin with nine cases among students, one at Valley View Elementary School in McHenry with six cases among staff and students, one at Riverwood Elementary School in McHenry with fewer than five cases among students, and two each at Prairie Grove Elementary School and Woods Creek Elementary School in Crystal Lake.

The outbreaks at Prairie Grove Elementary, both reported Feb. 2, include six cases among students and another nine cases among staff and students, the IDPH reported. Both were tied to the classroom.

The outbreaks at Woods Creek both involve fewer than five cases among students and were reported Jan. 12 and Jan. 31, according to the report. Both had their sources tied to the classroom.

The McHenry County Department of Health reported 181 more cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total to 73,876, including 428 deaths and 42 deaths that likely were caused by COVID-19 but have not been confirmed. No additional deaths were reported Friday.

In McHenry County, 4.8% of medical and surgical hospital beds remain available on average, according to the seven-day rolling mean the McHenry County health department reported Friday. An average of 18.6% of intensive care unit beds were available.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19-like illness decreased nine of the past 10 days in the county as of Friday.

The McHenry County health department did not update its school metrics dashboard, which hosts the two statistics used to calculate the level of COVID-19 transmission in the community.

The health department, however, said Thursday that it identified an error in its data for the incidence rate, and the current incidence rate is an underestimate.

The IDPH did not update its COVID-19 metrics Friday, as President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is a state holiday.

Neighboring Lake County’s health department reported a total of 119,474 cases and 1,275 deaths through Wednesday. To the south, Kane County’s health department reported 122,557 cases and 1,062 deaths as of Friday.

Among McHenry County ZIP codes, Crystal Lake (60014) has the highest number of COVID-19 cases with a total of 12,055 confirmed, according to county data. McHenry (60050) follows with 8,412.

The McHenry County health department reports ZIP code data only for parts 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: Woodstock (60098) 7,577 cases; Lake in the Hills (60156) 7,108; Huntley (60142) 5,911; Cary (60013) 5,604; Algonquin (60102) 5,226; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 4,526; Harvard (60033) 3,691; Marengo (60152) 2,677; Wonder Lake (60097) 2,618; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 2,583; Spring Grove (60081) 1,500; Fox River Grove (60021) 1,133; Island Lake (60042) 941; Richmond (60071) 701; Hebron (60034) 419; Barrington (60010) 295; Union (60180) 279; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 188.