All of Pennsylvania at Low COVID-19 Community Level as Cases, Hospitalizations Continue to Fall

Each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties is at the low community level for COVID-19 this week as reported new cases and hospitalizations linked to the virus continued a weeks-long decline, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s update on Thursday night.

For Centre County, it marks the eighth consecutive week at the low community level.

Statewide, the two counties that were at the medium level last week — Elk and Mercer — moved to low. It marks the sixth consecutive week that no counties were at high. Reported new cases across Pennsylvania fell for the eighth consecutive week and were again at their lowest level since the state health department switched to weekly reports in May 2022.

At the low level, the CDC recommends wearing a mask if symptomatic, if an individual has tested positive for COVID-19 or has been exposed to someone who has, and when on public transportation, but does not recommend universal indoor masking in public places.

HOSPITALIZATIONS AND CASES
For a county to be at the low level, it has fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period, with fewer than 10 COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people and less than 10% of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients over the same period.

Centre County had a case rate of 15 per 100,000 people (down from 28 last week) and 4.2 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (unchanged), with 3% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (down from 3.2%), according to the CDC. Cases were calculated from April 13-19 and hospitalization figures were calculated using data from April 12-18.

Mount Nittany Medical Center had six COVID-19 inpatients as of the hospital’s inpatient dashboard update on Friday. None are in intensive care or on ventilators. For the week of April 15-21, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 4.5, up from 3.2 last week.

The county added 24 reported new cases in the last week, 22 fewer than the previous seven days, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 3.4, down from 6.6.

A total of 44,595 COVID-19 cases (39,821 confirmed and 4,774 probable) have been reported among Centre County residents since March 2020.

STATEWIDE

Pennsylvania registered 2,688 reported new positives over the last week, 785 fewer than the previous week’s new cases. The rolling seven-day average of 384 new cases is down from 496 the prior week.

The commonwealth’s case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,554,128.

Hospitalizations linked to the virus declined for the 15th consecutive week. According to DOH data, 341 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide as of Wednesday, 89 fewer than a week earlier, with 51 in intensive care [-4] and 26 on ventilators [+2].

DEATHS
DOH recorded one new death attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 403.

With 86 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 50,946.

VACCINATIONS
As of Wednesday morning, 103,252 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 83 since April 12, and 13,010 are partially covered [-23]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 31,250 county residents [+88].

Among the county’s entire population, 75.5% have received at least one dose and 64.1% have completed the primary vaccine series, while 20% have received the bivalent booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 80.2% have received at least one dose, 67.9% have completed the primary series and 22.1% have received the bivalent booster booster.

Statewide, 83% of adults and 73.7% of the total population have completed the primary series, while the bivalent booster has been administered to 22.1% of adults and 18.6% of the total population.

Vaccination appointments are available through pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.

CENTRE COUNTY’S CASES BY ZIP CODE
*Note: Changes are in brackets. Specific numbers for zip codes with 1-4 cases are redacted by the health department. Cases are not always immediately assigned zip codes.

16801 (State College): 10,682 confirmed [+4], 1,438 probable

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,924 confirmed [+9], 674 probable

16803 (State College): 4,620 confirmed [+1], 889 probable

16866 (Philipsburg): 2,914 confirmed [+9], 366 probable

16802 (University Park): 2,132 confirmed [-1], 318 probable

16870 (Port Matilda): 1,726 confirmed [+1], 231 probable

16841 (Howard): 1,358 confirmed [+2], 115 probable

16827 (Boalsburg): 1,063 confirmed, 139 probable

16828 (Centre Hall): 1,045 confirmed [+1], 104 probable

16875 (Spring Mills): 830 confirmed [+1], 90 probable

16844 (Julian): 667 confirmed, 57 probable

16845 (Karthaus): 573 confirmed, 33 probable

16853 (Milesburg): 379 confirmed , 20 probable

16874 (Snow Shoe): 356 confirmed, 43 probable [+2]

16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 356 confirmed, 35 probable

16826 (Blanchard): 306 confirmed, 18 probable

16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 299 confirmed, 31 probable

16851 (Lemont): 235 confirmed, 34 probable

16829 (Clarence): 227 confirmed, 26 probable

16820 (Aaronsburg): 226 confirmed, 28 probable

16854 (Millheim): 214 confirmed, 20 probable

16872 (Rebersburg): 202 confirmed, 17 probable

16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 133 confirmed, 15 probable

16859 (Moshannon): 132 confirmed, 6 probable

16677 (Sandy Ridge): 115 confirmed, 6 probable

16832 (Coburn): 110 confirmed, 12 probable

16835 (Fleming): 74 confirmed, 7 probable

16852 (Madisonburg): 64 confirmed, 6 probable

16856 (Mingoville): 61 confirmed, 12 probable

16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed

16863 (Orviston): 25 confirmed

16804 (State College): 24 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed

16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed

CASES AMONG CENTRE COUNTY’S BORDERING COUNTIES
Blair: 35,471 [+54] Low Community Level

Clearfield: 24,735 [+29] Low Community Level

Mifflin: 15,290 [+20] Low Community Level

Huntingdon: 13,981 [+17] Low Community Level

Union: 13,634 [+13] Low Community Level

Clinton: 11,296 [+7] Low Community Level