Centre County Adds 1 COVID-19 Death, 88 Cases; Pennsylvania Reports 8,918 New Positives

Centre County registered a new COVID-19 death for the fourth consecutive day and reported 88 more cases of the virus on Friday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

The death is the county’s 273rd attributed to the virus since the start of the pandemic and 15th reported this month.

With the new positives, the county’s case total stands at 24,301 (21,856 confirmed and 2,445 probable). The county also had 54 new negative test results to bring the total 85,749.

Pennsylvania reported 8,918 new cases to increase the commonwealth’s total to 1,874,155. There were 6,698 new negatives statewide for a total 6,009,011.

With 88 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry, the statewide total is now 35,183.

Hospitalizations

Mount Nittany Medical Center has 57 COVID-19 inpatients, four fewer than on Thursday, with seven in intensive care [-2] and six on ventilators.

The patients range in age from 20 to 95, according to Mount Nittany’s COVID-19 inpatient dashboard. Seventeen are fully vaccinated and 40, or about 70%, are not vaccinated.

So far this month, the hospital has had 140 COVID inpatients and an average daily census of 61 COVID inpatients, the highest average at any point during the pandemic. In the last week, there were 68 average daily COVID hospitalizations and on Tuesday night Mount Nittany reached a pandemic-high 76 COVID inpatients.

The ongoing high number of COVID-19 inpatients, increasing emergency department visits and difficulty discharging patients to long-term care facilities and other less acute settings continue to stress the hospital and local health system, Mount Nittany Health administrators and staff said on Friday.

The medical center continues to make real-time operational adjustments. Elective surgeries requiring an overnight stay and endoscopy procedures are being postponed through Jan. 5. Wait times at the emergency department are considerably longer than normal. And visitations are limited to one designated visitor per patient per day between 2 and 6 p.m.

“The current strain our hospital is experiencing is due to the high number of COVID inpatients, many of whom are very sick,” Denelle Korin, a registered nurse and chapter president for SEIU, the union representing Mount Nittany health care workers, said in a statement. “The intensity of care needed to treat them is very high. It simply takes more people and resources to get them well again. We will continue to work together in the fight against COVID-19 in our community, but we need relief—and we ask everyone to do their part by getting vaccinated, masking and social distancing.”

Tom Charles, Mount Nittany Health executive vice president for system development, said earlier this week that the vast majority of COVID-related hospitalizations have been among unvaccinated individuals.

“We would not have nearly the magnitude of challenges that we have if we were talking about the number of hospitalized vaccinated patients,” Charles said during an update to the Centre County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday. “It is far and away the large number of unvaccinated individuals. Our providers and staff, who have been at this with intensity for nearly two years, are doing an incredible job, but they need a break.”

Pennsylvania has 4,610 COVID-19 inpatients, 47 fewer than on Thursday, with 935 in intensive care [-32] and 615 on ventilators [+38], according to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard.

Statewide, there were 4,581.3 average daily COVID hospitalizations from Dec. 10-16, up from 4,251 the prior week, according to the updated Department of Health early warning monitoring dashboard.

Positivity rate

Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Dec. 10-16 was 11.4%, down from 15% the previous seven days, according to the monitoring dashboard. The rate was ninth lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

The county had 451 new cases for that seven-day period, 110 fewer than the prior week.

The statewide positivity rate was 14.4%, down slightly from 14.5% the previous seven days. The commonwealth had 43,079 new positives between Dec. 10-16, 146 fewer than the prior week.

Cases Among Children

For the 2021-2022 school year, DOH is providing weekly updated case counts for two age groups: 0-4 capturing preschool and daycare age children and 5-18 capturing kindergarten through high school age children. The case counts do not necessarily represent exposure in school or daycare settings and the location of exposure cannot be determined in most cases.

For the week of Dec. 8-14, there were 21 new cases among children in the 0-4 age group and 79 in the 5-18 age group in Centre County. About 23% of all cases in Centre County that week were among children 0-18.

Since Aug. 16, there have been 1,314 cases among individuals between the ages of 0 and 18 in Centre County — 214 between the ages of 0-4 and 1,100 between the ages of 5 and 18 — representing about 20% of all cases during that time.

Prison cases

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Benner state prison has 17 active COVID-19 cases among inmates and 30 among staff [+2].

Rockview state prison has seven active inmate cases [+2] and 18 among staff.

Both facilities are in Benner Township.

At Benner, 1,538 inmates are fully vaccinated, nine are partially vaccinated and 194 are not vaccinated. Among staff, 293 are fully vaccinated [+3] and 335 are not vaccinated [-3].

Rockview has 1,681 inmates who are fully vaccinated and 63 who are not vaccinated. Among staff, 338 are fully vaccinated [+3] and 379 are not vaccinated [-3].

Transmission level

All 67 counties in Pennsylvania are at the highest level for community transmission of COVID-19 on the Centers for Disease Control scale, according to the latest county-level data update.

Transmission levels are based on positivity rate and cases per 100,000 people for the previous seven days. At the substantial and high levels, CDC guidance recommends all people, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in public indoor settings.

Vaccinations

As of Friday morning, 90,073 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 94 since Thursday, and 11,339 are partially covered [+163]. Booster doses have been administered to 30,964 county residents [+624].

Among the county’s entire population, 70.9% have received at least one dose and 55% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 77.3% have received at least one dose and 59.5% are fully vaccinated.

Statewide, 70.8% of adults and 60.5% of the total population are fully vaccinated.

Vaccination appointments through Centre Volunteers in Medicine, Mount Nittany Health and through other pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.

All individuals age 16 and older are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot.

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): 6,775 confirmed [+7], 652 probable [+16]

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 4,275 confirmed [+17], 402 probable [+2]

16803 (State College): 2,006 confirmed [+5], 327 probable [+13]

16802 (University Park): 1,638 confirmed, 110 probable [+6]

16866 (Philipsburg): 1,405 confirmed [+5], 230 probable [+1]

16870 (Port Matilda): 797 confirmed [+5], 115 probable [+2]

16841 (Howard): 749 confirmed [+1], 85 probable

16828 (Centre Hall): 516 confirmed [+3], 56 probable

16875 (Spring Mills): 510 confirmed [+1], 60 probable

16827 (Boalsburg): 466 confirmed [+1], 68 probable

16844 (Julian): 387 confirmed [+3], 48 probable

16845 (Karthaus): 384 confirmed [+3], 28 probable

16853 (Milesburg): 205 confirmed, 12 probable

16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 204 confirmed [+2], 23 probable

16874 (Snow Shoe): 196 confirmed [+1], 30 probable

16826 (Blanchard): 173 confirmed [+1], 14 probable

16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 136 confirmed [+1], 12 probable

16854 (Millheim): 131 confirmed, 13 probable

16820 (Aaronsburg): 130 confirmed, 25 probable

16829 (Clarence): 125 confirmed, 26 probable

16872 (Rebersburg): 109 confirmed, 13 probable

16851 (Lemont): 93 confirmed, 20 probable

16859 (Moshannon): 69 confirmed, 5 probable

16832 (Coburn): 63 confirmed, 5 probable

16677 (Sandy Ridge): 55 confirmed, 1-4 probable

16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 45 confirmed [+1], 7 probable

16856 (Mingoville): 37 confirmed, 9 probable

16835 (Fleming): 36 confirmed, 8 probable

16852 (Madisonburg): 35 confirmed, 5 probable

16882 (Woodward): 26 confirmed [+1], 1-4 confirmed

16863 (Orviston): 15 confirmed

16804 (State College): 13 confirmed

16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed

Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties

Blair: 22,230 [+81]

Clearfield: 13,790 [+62]

Mifflin: 8,822 [+44]

Union: 8,623 [+17]

Huntingdon: 8,143 [+17]

Clinton: 6,479 [+18]