114 Coronavirus Deaths, 6,700 Cases In Kane County During January

KANE COUNTY, IL — The average number of new coronavirus dropped steadily in Kane County during January, but COVID-19 deaths remained high throughout the month, which started with the county’s deadliest day of the pandemic.

Public health officials reported 114 COVID-19 deaths in Kane County last month, making it the second-deadliest month of the coronavirus pandemic; 131 deaths were reported in December, according to statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

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The number of COVID-19 deaths in Kane County started to surge in mid-November, about a month after the onset of a second wave of the coronavirus that infected many more people than during the spring.

The seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths has fluctuated between 2 and 6 for the past two and a half months, reaching its all-time high of about 5.9 deaths on Dec. 16. That figure stood at 2.4 on Monday, higher than any point between July 1 and Nov. 13, the state’s data shows.

Kane County recorded less than 100 new cases Sunday and Monday. The county hadn’t seen two consecutive days with less than 100 new cases since the start of the surge in early October.

Kane County added more than 6,700 new coronavirus cases in January, taking its total past 48,000 cases since the start of the pandemic last spring.

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The county’s seven-day rolling average of new coronavirus cases was about 227 at the start of 2021 before rising to 281 over the next week. Since then, it has dropped nearly 50 percent to 150 cases on Monday, public health data shows.

Though coronavirus-related deaths have yet to substantially decline in Kane County, state officials have loosened some restrictions due to the recent large drops in the area's positivity rate.

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The positivity rate in Region 8 — made up of Kane and DuPage counties — stood at 6.5 percent Friday, the most recent day for which testing data is available. That's the lowest it's been since Oct. 10, according to IDPH statistics.

Tier 1 mitigations went into effect last week in Kane County, with state officials lifting the ban on indoor service at bars and restaurants about months after it was imposed.

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Establishments can open no earlier than 6 a.m. and must close by 11 p.m. under Tier 1 restrictions. Parties are limited to four people and reservations must be made in advance.

Bars and restaurants must enforce a 25 percent capacity limit, with a maximum of 25 diners at any time. Bars that do not serve food cannot resume indoor service.

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Meetings, social events and gatherings can resume with a 25 percent capacity limit or maximum of 25 people, whether they are held inside or outside. Those limits do not apply to in-person learning, sports or many businesses that are now operating under Phase 4 guidelines.

High school sports cannot restart in Kane County until Region 8 reaches Phase 4 coronavirus mitigations.

To move from Tier 1 to Phase 4, Region 8 must record a positivity rate of 6.5 percent or less and at least 20 percent of ICU beds must be available for three straight days. The region must also experience no sustained increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over a 10-day period.

The positivity rate must remain at 6.5 percent or lower for two more days for the region to move back to Phase 4 restrictions.

At least 20 percent of ICU beds in the region have been available for 50 straight days, as of Friday. Hospitalizations in Region 8 have decreased each of the past 10 days, the state’s data shows.

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