McHenry County incidence rate rises three straight days, while hospital availability remains flat

The rate of new COVID-19 cases in McHenry County rose for the third straight day, the McHenry County Department of Health reported Wednesday.

The county’s COVID-19 incidence rate reached 55.25 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of Friday, which is on par with numbers from last July, according to the McHenry County health department

McHenry County now has seen 75,779 total cases, including 469 deaths and 44 deaths that likely were caused by COVID-19 but have not been confirmed. That tally is up 34 cases from Tuesday. No additional deaths were reported Wednesday.

The level of transmission in McHenry County remained low under the newest framework released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, county data shows.

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 percentage 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.

Hospitalizations across McHenry and Lake counties have leveled off, remaining at 27 COVID-19 patients, measured by a seven-day rolling average, for the each of the past three days, Illinois Department of Public Health data shows.

The two-county region had seen hospitalizations rise two days in a row over the weekend, ending a 62-day period where hospitalizations either declined or remained stable.

Hospital intensive care unit availability remained at 29% on Tuesday in the two counties, the IDPH reported. The mark remains around the same level as last July and early August, but down from a high of 33% a week ago.

Statewide, the number of hospitalizations tied to COVID-19 decreased to 503 patients as of Tuesday, the IDPH reported. Of those hospitalized, 65 patients were in the ICU and 28 were on ventilators.

An additional 110 vaccines were administered in McHenry County on Tuesday, bringing to the total 509,462 in the county, the IDPH reported. The state reported that 103,843 booster shots have been administered in the county.

A total of 200,082, or an estimated 64.84% of McHenry County’s population, are now fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve received all doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.

Statewide, 21,297,814 vaccine doses have been administered, according to state data.

Across Illinois, 81% of those age 5 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and 72.3% are fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Wednesday. Those rates are 84.9% and 75.8% for those age 12 and older, 86.3% and 77% for people 18 and older, and 95% and 87.7% for those age 65 and older, respectively.

Statewide, another 1,114 cases were logged Wednesday, as well as an additional 18 deaths. This brings the totals to 3,058,192 cases, 33,278 confirmed deaths and 4,276 probable deaths.

Neighboring Lake County’s health department reported a total of 123,192 cases and 1,357 deaths through Tuesday. To the south, Kane County’s health department reported 125,478 cases and 1,118 deaths as of Wednesday.

Among McHenry County ZIP codes, Crystal Lake (60014) has the highest total number of COVID-19 cases over the course of the pandemic with a total of 12,353 confirmed, according to county data. McHenry (60050) follows with 8,659.

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) 7,768 cases; Lake in the Hills (60156) 7,291; Huntley (60142) 6,059; Cary (60013) 5,744; Algonquin (60102) 5,362; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 4,620; Harvard (60033) 3,756; Marengo (60152) 2,747; Wonder Lake (60097) 2,672; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 2,672; Spring Grove (60081) 1,534; Fox River Grove (60021) 1,170; Island Lake (60042) 970; Richmond (60071) 716; Hebron (60034) 429; Barrington (60010) 345; Union (60180) 296; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 193.