McHenry County COVID-19 transmission level stays at ‘medium’; no deaths since late June

The spread of COVID-19 remained “medium” in McHenry County, under thresholds set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the county’s case rate increasing slightly over the previous week, the county health department reported.

The “medium” level of community transmission means the county saw fewer than 200 cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days, between 10 and 20 new admissions, also per 100,000 residents and less than 15% of its staffed inpatients beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, according to the CDC.

As of Friday, McHenry County had seen 89,797 total COVID-19 cases, including 489 confirmed deaths and 48 deaths where COVID-19 likely was the cause but was not confirmed, the McHenry County Department of Health reported. No additional deaths have occurred since June 25.

The county saw 197.26 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of Sunday, up from 172.56 the week before, according to the incidence rate reported by the county health department.

All neighboring counties were at the “medium” community level as of Friday, according to the CDC. Across Illinois, 30 counties show “high” community spread, while 12 counties were at the “low” level.

The rate of new COVID-19 cases among children 5 to 17 year olds increased in McHenry County over the past week while the case rate among newborns to 4-year-olds fell, Illinois Department of Public Health data shows.

The rate of cases among newborns to 4-year-olds in McHenry County decreased to three new cases a day, down from 4.3 new cases the previous week, according to the seven-day rolling average.

Cases among children 5 to 11 increased to 9.9 new cases each day from 7.7 cases the week before and among 12- to 17-year-olds, the case rate rose to nine new cases each day, compared with 7.6 the week before.

Countywide COVID-19 hospital admissions were at four new patients a day as of Tuesday, down from five a week earlier, according to the seven-day rolling averages reported by the IDPH.

Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties was at 33% as of Thursday, up from 26% the previous week, according to the seven-day average reported IDPH.

Across Illinois, the number of new hospital admissions tied to COVID-19 was 120 daily as of Tuesday, up slightly from 118 the week before, according to the seven-day rolling daily average reported by the IDPH. Of the 1,263 people hospitalized for COVID-19, 154 were in the ICU and 46 were on ventilators as of Thursday.

An additional 567 vaccines were administered in McHenry County in the past week, bringing the total to 554,099 in the county, the IDPH reported. The state reported that 114,130 booster shots have been administered in the county.

A total of 204,108 people, about 66.15% of McHenry County’s population, were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, meaning they’ve received all doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.

Across Illinois, 81.5% of those age 5 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and 73.8% were fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Friday. Those rates were 85.1% and 77.2% for those age 12 and older, 86.4% and 78.3% for people age 18 and older, and 95% and 89.6% for those 65 and older, respectively.

Illinois’ daily case rate stood at 29.3 new cases per 100,000 people, according to the seven-day rolling average reported Friday, with 70 deaths reported in the past week, down from the previous week’s 82 deaths. Illinois now has seen 3,696,385 COVID-19 cases, 34,747 confirmed deaths and 4,623 deaths where COVID-19 was the probable cause but was not confirmed.

In neighboring Lake County, the health department reported a total of 156,458 cases and 1,435 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County has seen 151,384 cases and 1,155 deaths as of Friday, according to its health department.

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 14,798 confirmed, according to county data. McHenry (60050) follows with 10,200.

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) 9,299 cases; Lake in the Hills (60156) 8,841; Huntley (60142) 7,215; Cary (60013) 6,828; Algonquin (60102) 6,422; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 5,446; Harvard (60033) 4,141; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 3,247; Marengo (60152) 3,137; Wonder Lake (60097) 3,090; Spring Grove (60081) 1,827; Fox River Grove (60021) 1,355; Island Lake (60042) 1,163; Richmond (60071) 880; Hebron (60034) 488; Barrington (60010) 418; Union (60180) 340; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 230.