Kane County experienced one of its deadliest of the coronavirus pandemic over the weekend, with nine people dying Saturday from coronavirus-related conditions.
That daily death toll is second only to the 10 deaths recorded May 11 in Kane County, public health data shows.
Kane County has recorded 32 deaths since Nov. 1, including 15 since Friday, according to statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The county had 29 deaths in October, 15 in September and 14 in August.
Coronavirus-related hospitalizations in Region 8 — made up of Kane and DuPage counties — fell slightly between Nov. 10 and Nov. 13, though that trend coincides with the recent uptick in deaths in Kane County.
New cases in the county have been skyrocketing since the middle of October, when its seven-day rolling average stood at about 130 cases. That figure peaked at 595 cases Thursday, fueled in part by the county’s first day with 1,000-plus new cases (1,068 on Nov. 6).
Its average of new cases has hovered around 500 since Saturday, the state’s data shows.
Kane County set a monthly record for new cases less than two weeks into November, according to public health data. As of Monday, Kane County reported 7,715 new coronavirus cases in November, a 50 percent increase over the county’s previous monthly high: 5,135 cases in October.
The county surpassed the 26,000-case barrier Monday, with public health data showing 49.1 percent of its cases have been recorded since Oct. 1.
Prior to Oct. 28, Kane County had only twice recorded single-day increases of more than 300 new cases. The county has done that in 17 of the 19 days since, public health data shows.
Kane County’s positivity rate has been surging since the start of October when that measure stood at 5.5 percent. The positivity rate spiked to 12.1 percent Oct. 19 before leveling off over the next week and a half.
The county’s positivity rate exploded from 11.3 percent Oct. 27 to 18.4 percent Friday, the most recent day for which testing data is available.
Kane County has been under “Tier 2” restrictions since Wednesday due to its surging positivity rate. Tier 1 restrictions have been in place in Region 8 since Oct. 23.
Tier 1 restrictions include an indoor dining ban on restaurants and bars, as well as a limit on social gatherings. Tier 2 restrictions limit party sizes for outdoor dining to six people instead of 10, while gatherings and groups participating in organized recreational activities are limited to 10 people instead of 25.
Additional Tier 3 restrictions, including a suspension of elective surgeries and procedures, could be imposed if Region 8’s positivity-rate does not drop over the next two weeks.
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