COVID-19 Outbreak Reported At Camp In Region 9: IDPH

LAKE AND MCHENRY COUNTIES, IL — As COVID-19 cases continue to rise among young people in Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday again urged residents to take precautions to prevent the further spread of virus — and health officials are reporting coronavirus outbreaks at several youth camps, including one in the Lake/McHenry-county area.

"There's a vast increase in the number of people who are going into the hospital, who are in the age bracket of everybody under 30 all the way down to those who are unable to get vaccinated today who are those under 12," Pritzker said during an event Tuesday.

In the past 30 days, camps and community events have been linked to the most COVID-19 outbreaks across the state, a shift from earlier in the pandemic, when factories, manufacturing facilities and group homes saw the most outbreaks. But the number of outbreaks in those settings is dwindling, according to public health data.

Across Illinois, there were nine outbreaks at camps, including one in Region 9, which includes Lake and McHenry counties, in the past month and another in Region 8, made up of Kane and DuPage counties. The Kane and DuPage region also saw one outbreak linked back to a community event.

IDPH's report does not name the camps where the outbreaks occurred.

Local health departments investigate outbreaks by identifying clusters from individual case investigations and the information is based on reported locations visited during their 14-day exposure period, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

An outbreak is defined as five or more cases that are linked to a common location during a 14-day period.