Kane County is the only metropolitan county in the Chicago area that did not exceed the state’s warning level for new cases per capita last week.
The metric shows that Chicago, Cook County and DuPage, Lake, McHenry and Will counties saw more than 50 new cases for every 100,000 residents during the week ending July 18, according to reports from the Department of Public Health. from Illinois.
Meanwhile, state health authorities announced Friday that 19 more people have died from COVID-19 and another 1,532 residents have been infected.
That brings the death toll to 7,385, and the state now reports that 168,457 people have been infected.
The new cases come from a batch of 44,330 tests, representing a 3.5% infection rate for the day.
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The state has averaged 1,303 new cases over the past seven days for an average weekly infection rate of 3.4%.
Kane County barely missed triggering the warning with 48 new cases per 100,000 residents.
Statewide, 35 counties and Chicago exceeded the warning level. For comparison, St. Clair County, on the east side of St. Louis, experienced 160 new cases per 100,000 residents last week, IDPH reported. That was the highest level of any county in the report.
The per capita metric is just one of eight that the state uses to monitor overall COVID-19 risk in a county.
“Individuals, families and community groups can use this critical data to help inform their choices about personal and family reunions, as well as the activities they choose to do,” IDPH officials wrote on the metrics website for agency county risk.
Chicago’s rate was 64 new cases per 100,000 residents. The number of new cases in other suburban counties was: suburban Cook County, 56; DuPage County, 51; Lake County, 63; McHenry County, 64; and, Will County, 54.
The per capita rate was the only metric surpassed by Chicago and suburban counties.
Elsewhere in the state, four counties, Adams, LaSalle, Peoria, and Randolph, exceeded warning levels for multiple metrics.
“These counties saw outbreaks associated with business and risky behavior,” IDPH officials wrote in a press release on Friday.
In Randolph County, where the warning level was exceeded by three metrics, IDPH officials blamed “congregated settings, numerous bars that do not comply with distancing and masking, a huge party with more than 200 people” and the infections that spread between homes.
The other metrics include the county’s positivity rate for tests, the number of tests administered, hospital visits and admissions, as well as the availability of deaths and medical facilities.
IDPH officials also reported that hospitalizations for COVID-19 infections remained fairly stable on Friday. Statewide, 4.2% of all hospital beds were occupied by patients with COVID-19. Among intensive care units across the state, 8.4% of those beds were occupied by 325 patients with COVID-19.
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