COVID-19 spread in McHenry County stays low for 10th straight week

For 10 straight weeks, McHenry County’s COVID-19 transmission levels stayed “low” under thresholds set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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

No Illinois counties were considered at a “high” level of transmission, and 13 were at the “medium” level as of Tuesday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. All counties neighboring McHenry County except for Boone County were low.

As of Thursday, McHenry County had seen 98,960 total COVID-19 cases, including 581 deaths in which COVID-19 was either confirmed or a likely case, the McHenry County Department of Health reported. No deaths were added to the total this week.

The county saw 60.3 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of Sunday, according to the IDPH. That was down from the week before, when the case rate was at 57.7.

Countywide, COVID-19 hospital admissions totaled three new patients a day as of Tuesday, down from four the week before, according to the seven-day rolling averages the IDPH reported.

Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties was 28% as of Thursday, down from 31% last week, according to the seven-day average reported by the IDPH.

Across Illinois, the number of new hospital admissions tied to COVID-19 was 81 each day as of Tuesday, according to the seven-day rolling daily average the IDPH reported.

Of the 840 people hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, 104 were in the ICU and 26 were on ventilators as of Thursday.

Illinois’ weekly case rate stood at 61.8 new cases per 100,000 people, according to the seven-day rolling average reported Sunday. The state saw 16 deaths in the past week.

In neighboring Lake County, the health department reported a total of 178,055 cases and 1,533 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County had seen 163,007 cases and 1,221 deaths as of March 24, according to its health department.