Kane County’s COVID-19 positivity rate has decreased to 4.6% after a surge in cases several weeks ago.
The county’s seven-day positivity rate as of Sunday decreased to 4.6% for the first time since late July, state data shows. In comparison, the positivity rate in Kane County was nearly 7% the week of Aug. 16.
As of Wednesday, the region of Kane and DuPage counties had a total of 199 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora has had around 30 COVID-19 patients a day in the hospital for the last three weeks, Chief Operating Officer Mary Shilkaitis said.
Of those patients, a significant majority are unvaccinated, have other health problems and are in the 20- to 50-year-old age range, Shilkaitis said.
“It is affecting that age group more than in the first wave of the pandemic because that population isn’t as vaccinated as the elderly population who adapted to the vaccine very early on,” Shilkaitis said.
Despite a national rise in children who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 as many return back to school, Shilkaitis said Rush Copley has not seen a lot of children hospitalized locally. Instead, she has seen many patients with other viruses circulating, including cases of respiratory syncytial virus.
“While there are some COVID positive children, which I wouldn’t call it insignificant because every child who is diagnosed is a concern to us, I don’t feel we have a skyrocketing upward trend,” Shilkaitis said.
Cases of respiratory syncytial virus are usually seen in the winter months but have shown up sooner than normal this year. She recommends people with symptoms check with their health care provider and take a COVID-19 test as a precaution.
“A lot of these symptoms mimic one another with a sore throat, cough or congestion and its best to take good precaution to protect from spreading it to others,” she said.
The Kane County Health Department Wednesday urged residents to report local businesses which are not following the statewide indoor mask mandate as a means to fight COVID-19. Residents can report businesses not enforcing the mandate by emailing COVIDconcerns@co.kane.il.us, officials said.
The mask mandate requires all individuals over the age of 2 to wear a face covering over their nose and mouth, regardless of their vaccination status, when indoors in a public setting.
Shilkaitis said wearing masks is just one of the ways people can reduce their risk of getting COVID-19, along with getting vaccinated, social distancing and hand washing.
“We know the vaccine works,” Shilkaitis said.
Of the state’s fully vaccinated population, 99.978% have not been hospitalized from a breakthrough COVID-19 infection, officials said.
Despite Kane County’s COVID-19 positivity rates going down a bit, the county remains at a level of “high” community transmission, with 115.33 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents as of Tuesday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Michael Isaacson, assistant director of community health for the Kane County Health Department, said over the last two weeks the health department has met with organizations like schools which are now subject to new vaccine requirements to help make sure they have opportunities for people to receive vaccinations.
The health department is also working with state and federal partners to make sure they are prepared to roll out COVID-19 booster shots, which could start by Sept. 20. Those with compromised immune systems can already receive a booster shot by visiting the Batavia KaneVax Hub or a local pharmacy.
Since the landscape of vaccine availability has changed greatly since its rollout in December, Isaacson said the health department is trying to determine how many booster shots they will need to provide at the Batavia VaxHub.
“Now there are many more places people can go, so we want to make sure we are adequately prepared to meet public demand while trying to determine how many people will actually come to the health department as opposed to another provider,” Isaacson said.
It is unclear if Kane County will renew its lease for the county vaccination hub in Batavia which expires Nov. 1.
Over the last week, the county has averaged 969 COVID-19 vaccinations per day, Isaacson said. Of the entire county’s population, including those who are too young to receive the vaccine, 54.02% are fully vaccinated, according to state data.
mejones@chicagotribune.com
