McHenry County sees steady decline in COVID-19 case rate, vaccine rate spikes in past week

The spread of COVID-19 remains at “medium” in McHenry County, under thresholds set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The county’s case rate has steadily declined since the beginning of September, county health department data showed.

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 has seen 90,713 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 154.04 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of Sunday, down from 190.76 the week before, according to the incidence rate reported by the McHenry County health department.

While the number of vaccines administered each have hovered around 1,000, the past week saw that number jump to 4,470, bringing the total to 559,763 in the county, the Illinois Department of Health reported. The amount is the most in one week since April.

The state reported that 114,572 booster shots have been administered in the county.

A total of 204,375 people, about 66.23% 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, 81.6% of those age 5 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and 73.9% were fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Friday. Those rates were 85.3% and 77.3% for those age 12 and older, 86.6% and 78.4% for people age 18 and older and 95% and 89.7% for those 65 and older.

Surrounding counties were also at the “medium” community level as of Friday, except for DeKalb County, which was “high,” according to the CDC. Across Illinois, 20 counties show “high” community spread, down from 28 last week, while 36 counties were at the “low” level.

The rate of new COVID-19 cases among newborns to 17-year-old children decreased in McHenry County over the past week, according to IDPH data.

The rate of cases among newborns to 4-year-olds in McHenry County was at 2.9 new cases a day, down from 3.7, according to the seven-day rolling average.

Cases among children 5 to 11 decreased to 1.9 new cases each day from 3.9 the week before and among 12- to 17-year-olds, the case rate fell to 2.6 new cases each day, compared with 5.7 the week before.

Countywide COVID-19 hospital admissions dropped to three new patients a day as of Tuesday, down from six 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 24% as of Thursday, down from 30% the previous week and continuing a steady decline since the beginning of September, according to the seven-day average reported IDPH.

Across Illinois, the number of new hospital admissions tied to COVID-19 was 112 daily as of Tuesday, down slightly from 116 the week before, according to the seven-day rolling daily average reported by the IDPH. Of the 1,153 people hospitalized for COVID-19, 145 were in the ICU and 49 were on ventilators as of Thursday.

Illinois’ daily case rate stood at 19.7 new cases per 100,000 people, according to the seven-day rolling average reported Friday, with 74 deaths reported in the past week, up from the previous week’s 64 deaths.

In neighboring Lake County, the health department reported a total of 158,818 cases and 1,441 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County has seen 152,991 cases and 1,164 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 14,959 confirmed, according to county data. McHenry (60050) follows with 10,307.

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) 9,432 cases; Lake in the Hills (60156) 8,918; Huntley (60142) 7,290; Cary (60013) 6,881; Algonquin (60102) 6,480; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 5,501; Harvard (60033) 4,171; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 3,270; Marengo (60152) 3,156; Wonder Lake (60097) 3,132; Spring Grove (60081) 1,840; Fox River Grove (60021) 1,369; Island Lake (60042) 1,187; Richmond (60071) 893; Hebron (60034) 492; Barrington (60010) 425; Union (60180) 345; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 234.