Active COVID-19 outbreaks in McHenry County schools falls to two

The number of active COVID-19 outbreaks at McHenry County schools and youth organizations fell to two Friday, down from four last week, the Illinois Department of Public Health’s weekly report shows.

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

The youth-related outbreaks in McHenry County that remained active as of Friday, according to the IDPH, included one at Chauncey H. Duker School in McHenry with fewer than five cases among students, and one at Oak Knoll Early Childhood Center in Cary with fewer than five cases among staff and students.

Cases among kids generally have plummeted since a January high, IDPH data shows. McHenry County is one of 12 counties statewide with youth-related outbreaks still active.

On Jan. 22, the seven-day rolling average of new daily COVID-19 cases in McHenry County was 57 among newborns to 4-year-olds, 161 among 5- to 11-year-olds, and 173 among 12- to 17-year-olds, the state reported. On Friday, the rolling average in McHenry County was three new cases each day for newborns to 4-year-olds, six for 5- to 11-year-olds, and five for 12- to 17-year-olds.

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Lake and McHenry counties fell again Thursday, marking a drop 46 of the last 47 days, state data shows.

The total number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in the two-county region declined to 62 as of Thursday, the IDPH reported.

Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties was 27% as of Thursday, remaining the same as the day before but still remaining the best it’s been since Aug. 6, according to IDPH data.

In McHenry County alone, 5.4% of medical and surgical hospital beds remain available on average, according to the seven-day rolling average the county reported Friday. An average of 24.8% of ICU beds and 90.6% of ventilators were available.

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

Statewide, the number of hospitalizations tied to COVID-19 decreased to 843 patients as of Thursday, the IDPH reported. Of those hospitalized, 153 patients were in the ICU and 77 were on ventilators.

An additional 195 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered to McHenry County residents Thursday, according to the IDPH, bringing the total number administered locally to 506,346. The state reported that 102,175 booster shots have been administered in McHenry County.

A total of 198,972 residents, or an estimated 64.48% of McHenry County’s population, now are fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve received all doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.

Statewide, 21,157,960 vaccine doses have been administered, according to state data.

Across Illinois, 80.8% of those age 5 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and 71.8% are fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Friday. Those rates are 84.7% and 75.5% for those age 12 and older, 86.1% and 76.7% for people 18 and older, and 95% and 87.4% for those age 65 and older, respectively.

The level of transmission in McHenry County remained low under the framework released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the McHenry County Department of Health reported Friday.

That means the county saw fewer than 200 cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days; the number of people being admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 was fewer than 10 per 100,000 residents, also over seven days; and the percent of staffed in-patient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients was less than 10%, as measured by a seven-day average, according to the CDC.

The county’s seven-day incidence rate decreased slightly to 112.12 new cases over the past seven days per 100,000 residents as of Sunday, according to the county health department.

McHenry County now has seen 75,240 total cases, including 453 deaths and 43 deaths that likely were caused by COVID-19 but have not been confirmed. That tally is up 41 cases from Thursday. No new deaths were reported Friday.

Neighboring Lake County’s health department reported a total of 122,227 cases and 1,337 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County’s health department reported 124,659 cases and 1,104 deaths as of Friday.

Statewide, the IDPH tallied 1,329 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. Another 40 deaths also were logged, bringing the totals to 3,037,199 cases, 32,926 confirmed deaths and 4,182 probable deaths.

Among McHenry County ZIP codes, Crystal Lake (60014) has the highest total number of COVID-19 cases with a total of 12,266 confirmed, according to county data. McHenry (60050) follows with 8,605.

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) 7,692 cases; Lake in the Hills (60156) 7,241; Huntley (60142) 6,012; Cary (60013) 5,698; Algonquin (60102) 5,318; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 4,595; Harvard (60033) 3,742; Marengo (60152) 2,730; Wonder Lake (60097) 2,652; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 2,643; Spring Grove (60081) 1,525; Fox River Grove (60021) 1,160; Island Lake (60042) 966; Richmond (60071) 712; Hebron (60034) 428; Barrington (60010) 336; Union (60180) 293; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 191.