Here’s How Full Hospitals In Lake Co. Are

Even as vaccines begin rolling out to health care workers and offer a powerful tool to fight the pandemic, coronavirus case numbers and hospitalizations continue to hit record highs across the U.S.

The latest hospitalization data shows that at least 100,000 Americans or more have near consistently been in the hospital for coronavirus in December. Also this past month, the Department of Health and Human Services began reporting hospital capacity data at the facility level, which several have used to determine the percentage of hospital beds occupied across the country.

The latest data for December shows how full hospital and ICU beds are in McHenry County:

Hospital Beds: 23.9 percent
ICU Beds: 25 percent

The HHS data compiled by the University of Minnesota are calculated at the facility level and averaged for each county. Here’s how the model developed by the university measures percentage of hospital and ICU beds occupied by coronavirus patients:

• Percentage of hospital beds occupied by coronavirus patients=Seven day average of total adult and pediatric patients confirmed or suspected/Seven day average of staffed inpatient beds
• Percentage of ICU beds occupied by coronavirus patients=Seven day average of total adult ICU confirmed/Seven day average of staffed ICU adult beds