27 COVID Cases At McHenry Co. Jail Since May

MCHENRY COUNTY, IL —In the past month, COVID-19 outbreaks in McHenry County occurred at a nursing home, rehabilitation center, a daycare and the McHenry County Correctional Facility, health officials said Thursday.

The outbreaks come as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in McHenry County and across the U.S., spurred in part by the highly contagious delta variant. In response to a Patch.com Freedom of Information Act request, the McHenry County Department of Health shared more information on the recent outbreaks, including the number of people who were vaccinated but still tested positive for the virus.

Besides outbreaks at the jail, the three other outbreaks happened at Hearthstone Village, a senior living facility in Woodstock; Alden Terrace, a short-term rehabilitation center in McHenry; and Kindercare. The health department did not specify which Kindercare.

At the McHenry County Correctional Facility, there have been 27 cases since May involving inmates or employees inside the facility, including two cases in the past month. Of those cases, only one person was vaccinated, according to health officials.

The people testing positive for the virus ranged in age from 19 years old to 65 years old.

Susan Karras, public health nursing director, said the McHenry County Jail investigation remains open since there’s been ongoing cases at the facility since May.

Kevin Byrnes, a public information officer for the McHenry County Sheriff's Office, said the jail had one inmate who tested positive as he was coming into custody in the last 30 days. That inmate was taken to the jail's medical pod and placed in quarantine.

He said there was also an employee who was positive in the past month but he's believed to have contracted the virus outside of work.

Meanwhile, Hearthstone Village saw four positive cases and only one person was not vaccinated.

All four people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the Alden Terrace outbreak were not vaccinated, according to the health department. The Kindercare outbreak had two people test positive for the virus and neither of them were vaccinated.

In McHenry County, more than 52 percent of residents have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. The COVID-19 positivity rate has steadily been on the rise in recent weeks. The seven-day rolling average was 6.8 percent as of Monday, according to public health data.

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