The first case of the coronavirus involving a Lake County resident was announced Wednesday afternoon by the Lake County Health Department, which reported that a man in his 50s was hospitalized in stable condition.
Health department officials said in a statement that they are “still investigating the individual’s travel history and any potential contact with a known COVID-19 case.”
“Our staff is working to rapidly identify, interview and assess the risk for close contacts of the first COVID-19 case in Lake County,” said Lisa Kritz, Director of Prevention for the Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center.
“Our priority is the health and safety of all who live, work, and play in Lake County,” Krtiz added in the statement, “and we continue to use every available resource to prepare our communities for additional cases of COVID-19.”
Wednesday’s development follows an announcement late Tuesday by the health department that a local hospital was treating a patient with coronavirus, but that person was not a resident of Lake County. The patient was in stable condition and being treated in isolation, according to the update.
The virus, known as COVID-19, was first identified in Wuhan, China, and has since spread to a hundred countries, according to the World Health Organization.
The confirmed cases in Illinois Wednesday reached 25, including a McHenry County man in his late teens who has ties to Lake County. The teenager and a Kane County woman in her 60s were the state’s first cases outside of Cook County.
Lake County Health Department staff were at the hospital starting Tuesday morning to identify, interview and assess the risk for healthcare workers who had contact with the patient under treatment who was not from Lake County, according to the update.
While news of the virus continued to develop, some residents have placed themselves under a self-quarantine due to possible exposure.
That includes the parents of a Gurnee woman who was on the Grand Princess cruise liner. The parents, who also live in Gurnee, met the woman and her grandmother when the ship was docked in Hawaii.
A Lake Forest High School faculty member is also under a self-quarantine after attending a meeting at Vaughn Occupational High School, the Chicago school where a classroom assistant tested positive for the disease. The faculty member was in the same room on the same day as the teacher’s aide but the two were not in the room at the same time.
The faculty member returned to work at Lake Forest High School East and West campuses last week, according to the school. Staff has been contacting those they know the faculty member had contact with after the meeting.
A Grayslake High School District 127 educational support staff member is also under self-quarantine, Superintendent Mikkel Storaasli said in an email released Wednesday to parents.
The staff member’s adult daughter was in northern Italy in the early part of the outbreak there, Storaasli said in the email. He added the staff member has not been in contact with district staff or students since before her plane landed and she came back to stay with them.
Both are under the care of medical professionals and neither have shown any symptoms, Storaasli said.
Voting precautions
The Lake County Clerk’s Office is also taking extra steps ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, supplying sanitizing wipes to all of its 16 early voting sites and 121 Election Day sites.
Election judges at early voting sites are also being directed to wipe down the touch-screen voting machines every half hour, Lake County Deputy Clerk Todd Govain said. That equipment is only used for Election Day voters that need assistance under the Americans with Disabilities Act; all other voters will use paper ballots as usual.
The clerk’s office is also recommending voters bring their own black or blue ink pen, and reminding voters that mail-in ballots are an option. Applications for mail-in ballots are available online at LakeVoterPower.info and must be received by 5 p.m. Thursday.
The locations of all polling places are remaining the same, including the two senior centers that serve as sites, Govain said.
Antioch Township has four precincts voting at a senior center, and the Park Place senior center in Waukegan also serves as a voting site.
The clerk’s office does not have any polling sites at nursing homes or other senior housing, he said. It does work with those places to provide on-site voting opportunities for residents, and eight of the 22 nursing homes that had signed up have cancelled that.
The deadline for nursing homes to cancel and their residents be able to vote by mail instead is 5 p.m. Thursday, Govain said.
McHenry County officials announced Tuesday that four election polling places were being moved from senior housing sites in places like Woodstock and Algonquin to other locations “out of an abundance of caution for a high-risk population.”
The city of Highland Park closed its senior center Wednesday until further notice and cancelled all programming, including those that take place at other locations and all non-essential public meetings, according to a news release.
No changes are planned to the Connector Bus, which provides free and essential transportation on a fixed route within Highland Park for seniors and people with disabilities to Highland Park Hospital, grocery stores, pharmacy stores and other locations throughout Highland Park, according to the release. The city has increased the bus’ cleaning and disinfecting.
A Grayslake High School District 127 work-study program at a local adult care facility was also stopped, Storaasli said in his email to parents. The cut impacted two students.
While Chicago has postponed its St. Patrick’s Day parades scheduled for this weekend, Lake County’s only St. Patrick’s day parade — scheduled for Saturday at noon in downtown Lake Villa — is moving ahead, said Lake Villa Village Administrator Karl Warwick.
Warwick did not have estimates on how many people typically attend the event, which kicks off with a parade at noon followed by a corned beef and cabbage lunch at the local VFW. He said attendance varies based on weather and other factors, but added it is the village’s largest parade.
The College of Lake County has also not cancelled any classes or events, spokeswoman Lindsey Nemcek said on Wednesday.
The college issued a cautionary note Monday to faculty and staff regarding spring break, which runs March 23-29, asking everyone to “remain vigilant and knowledgeable when traveling, especially if traveling to areas with active community transmission.”
