Health & Fitness
4 Deaths, 258 Coronavirus Cases On Christmas Eve In Kane County
Kane County is set to top 40,000 coronavirus cases on Christmas, with the pandemic's death toll continuing to rise.
KANE COUNTY, IL — Public health officials reported four coronavirus-related deaths on Christmas Eve in Kane County, taking the county’s death toll to 539 residents since the start of the pandemic.
Kane County is set to break the 40,000-case mark on Christmas, after more than 250 new cases were reported Thursday. That took the county’s total to 39,970 cases, according to statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Find out what's happening in Aurorafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The state’s data shows new coronavirus cases and deaths in Kane County are down from all-time highs in November, but the seven-day average of new cases remains higher than at any point during the first seven and a half months of the pandemic.
Kane County's seven-day average of new cases hit its highest point of the pandemic Nov. 12 — at 595 cases — but fell to 270 on Christmas Eve. That’s the lowest it’s been in eight weeks, public health data shows.
Find out what's happening in Aurorafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
FoxFire Takes Indoor Dining Fight To Illinois Supreme Court
The county experienced its deadliest week of the pandemic earlier this month, with 41 residents dying from Dec. 10-16. Twenty-nine residents died from Dec. 17-24.
December is on pace to be Kane County's deadliest month of the pandemic, with 106 COVID-19 deaths recorded through Dec. 24. Public health officials reported 123 coronavirus-related deaths in May.
All 11 coronavirus-management regions in Illinois are under Tier 3 restrictions, which require some non-essential businesses to close and many stores to enforce capacity limits, in addition to indoor-service bans at bars and restaurants.
A region can move back to Tier 2 mitigations if its positivity rate drops below 12 percent for three consecutive days, if it has more than 20 percent of hospital beds open, and if it sees a sustained drop in hospitalizations for coronavirus-related illnesses.
Get A Tax Deduction In Patch Holiday Food Drive In Kane County
The positivity rate in Region 8, made up of Kane and DuPage counties, has been under 12 percent for 11 straight days as of Dec. 21, the most recent day for which testing data is available.
Kane County's positivity rate fell from an all-time high of 18.4 percent Nov. 13 to 10.9 percent Dec. 21, while the region’s rate dropped from 16 percent to 10.8 percent over the same period.
Gold Coin Worth $1,100 Found In St. Charles Salvation Army Kettle
Region 8 has had at least 20 percent of ICU beds available for 11 straight days, though medical/surgical beds in the region are becoming less available, according to IDPH statistics.
Monday was the first day in more than three weeks more than 20 percent of medical/surgical beds were available in the region, but that measure dipped to 17.8 percent Wednesday.
Coronavirus-related hospitalizations were down 33 percent after dropping from an all-time high of 716 on Nov. 22 to 479 by Monday, though that number rose to 481 Wednesday, the state's data shows.
REGIONAL NEWS:
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.