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An additional three deaths from COVID-19 were reported Wednesday by the McHenry County Department of Health even as hospitalization rates locally continue to improve.
Total hospitalizations in McHenry and Lake counties have dropped for 38 straight days, reaching 80 Tuesday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. They had been increasing every day since Dec. 26 before Jan. 14, reaching a pandemic high of 407 on Jan. 15.
Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties improved to 25% as of Tuesday, which is the best it’s been since Aug. 10, state data shows.
In McHenry County alone, 7.4% of medical and surgical hospital beds remain available on average, according to the seven-day rolling average the McHenry County health department reported Wednesday. An average of 22.4% of ICU beds were available.
Hospitalizations for COVID-19-like illness decreased nine of the past 10 days in the county as of Wednesday.
Statewide, the number of hospitalizations tied to COVID-19 decreased to 1,232 patients as of Tuesday, the IDPH reported. Of those hospitalized, 250 patients were in the ICU and 118 were on ventilators.
An additional three deaths from COVID-19 were reported Wednesday by the McHenry County Department of Health as well as 99 additional COVID-19 cases. That brings the total to 74,734 cases, including 449 deaths and 43 deaths that likely were caused by COVID-19.
Two of the newly reported deaths took place in February, bringing the total in that month to 10, county data shows. The third death occurred in January, which has now seen 55 reported COVID-19 deaths.
The level of COVID-19 transmission in McHenry County remained high because of the county’s incidence rate.
The incidence rate was 127.07 new COVID-19 cases over the past seven days per 100,000 residents as of Friday, the last day for which data is available, according to the McHenry County Department of Health’s school metrics dashboard.
For transmission risk to meet the less severe category “substantial,” the county would need to see the incidence rate fall below 100 new cases over seven days per 100,000 residents, according to the McHenry County health department. It then would need to stay below that for a week.
The other metric used to determine the level of transmission locally is the positivity rate.
The test positivity rate for McHenry County, as measured by a seven-day rolling average, decreased to 4.7% Sunday, the second day it has been in the “low” range, according to McHenry County health department data.
The region that includes McHenry and Lake counties saw its positivity rate decrease to 3.6% Sunday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
An additional 272 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered to McHenry County residents on Tuesday, according to the IDPH, bringing the total number administered locally to 504,287. The state reported that 101,322 booster shots were administered in McHenry County.
A total of 198,192 residents, or an estimated 64.23% of McHenry County’s population, now are fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve received all doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.
Statewide, 21,042,269 vaccine doses have been administered, according to state data.
Across Illinois, 80.6% of those age 5 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and 71.4% are fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Wednesday. Those rates are 84.5% and 75.2% for those age 12 and older, 85.9% and 76.4% for people 18 and older, and 95% and 87.3% for those age 65 and older, respectively.
Statewide, the IDPH tallied 2,733 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. Another 86 deaths also were logged, bringing the totals to 3,022,684 cases, 32,517 confirmed deaths and 4,097 probable deaths.
Neighboring Lake County’s health department reported a total of 121,437 cases and 1,316 deaths through Tuesday. To the south, Kane County’s health department reported 124,091 cases and 1,091 deaths as of Wednesday.
Among McHenry County ZIP codes, Crystal Lake (60014) has the highest total number of COVID-19 cases with a total of 12,172 confirmed, according to county data. McHenry (60050) follows with 8,541.
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) 7,661 cases; Lake in the Hills (60156) 7,194; Huntley (60142) 5,977; Cary (60013) 5,664; Algonquin (60102) 5,301; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 4,568; Harvard (60033) 3,721; Marengo (60152) 2,709; Wonder Lake (60097) 2,639; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 2,616; Spring Grove (60081) 1,517; Fox River Grove (60021) 1,151; Island Lake (60042) 953; Richmond (60071) 709; Hebron (60034) 426; Barrington (60010) 312; Union (60180) 286; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 190.