Centre County registered two new COVID-19 deaths and 52 more cases of the virus on Tuesday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Mount Nittany Medical Center also had 76 COVID-19 inpatients as of midnight, Tom Charles, executive vice president of system development, told the Centre County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday morning. That is the most COVID-19 inpatients Centre County’s only hospital has had at any time throughout the entire pandemic.
Strain on the medical center has been ongoing, with an average daily census of COVID-19 inpatients so far in December is 61, eclipsing the previous high average of 49 in December 2020.
More seriously ill patients have required more intensive resources, Charles said. Mount Nittany continues to postpone elective surgeries requiring overnight stay and waiting times at the emergency department are significantly longer than normal.
“We’ve been in a very challenging stretch because the level of covid transmission in the community has continued to be high,” Charles said. “… We will not be able to get back to normal operations until the transmission in the community goes down significantly. I’m going to say what we’ve been saying. Get vaccinated. If you’re vaccinated get boosted. Whether you are or are not vaccinated, please consider masking. It’s an additional layer of protection. This is an airborne virus. And please maintain appropriate social distance to limit transmission.”
Mount Nittany has not yet updated its COVID-19 inpatient dashboard on Tuesday with current inpatient ages and vaccination status. On Monday, the hospital’s 69 COVID inpatients ranged in age from 27 to 95 and about 71% were not vaccinated.
“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. “It is far and away unvaccinated individuals.”
According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, 11 COVID inpatients are in intensive care, one more than on Monday, and 11 are on ventilators [+1].
“This is not a mild second wave,” Charles said. “We have a number of very sick individuals in the hospital and our level of ventilator utilization is up from what it has been throughout the pandemic.”
The new COVID-19 deaths bring the county’s total to 270, including 12 reported this month.
With the new positives on Tuesday, the county’s case total stands at 24,025 (21,651 confirmed and 2,374 probable). The county also had 75 new negative test results to bring the total to 85,530.
Pennsylvania added 7,441 cases on Tuesday to bring the statewide total to 1,850,578. There were 4,496 new negatives across the commonwealth for a total of 5,990,602
With 113 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry, the statewide total is now 34,731.
Pennsylvania has 4,694 COVID-19 inpatients, 152 more than on Monday, with 963 in intensive care [+25] and 537 on ventilators [-3], according to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard. Statewide hospitalizations are at their highest level since Jan. 21.
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.
Prison cases
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Benner state prison has 18 active COVID-19 cases among inmates, eight fewer than on Monday, and 26 among staff [-4].
Rockview state prison has five active inmate cases [+1] and 18 among staff [-2]
Both facilities are in Benner Township.
At Benner, 1,535 inmates are fully vaccinated, nine are partially vaccinated and 198 are not vaccinated. Among staff, 283 are fully vaccinated and 345 are not vaccinated.
Rockview has 1,683 inmates who are fully vaccinated and 64 who are not vaccinated. Among staff, 335 are fully vaccinated and 382 are not vaccinated.
Vaccinations
As of Tuesday morning, 89,758 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 50 since Monday, and 10,996 are partially covered [+78]. Booster doses have been administered to 28,647 county residents [+268].
Among the county’s entire population, 70.5% have received at least one dose and 54.7% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 76.8% have received at least one dose and 59.3% are fully vaccinated.
Statewide, 70.5% of adults and 60.2% 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): 6,751 confirmed [+4], 617 probable
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 4,219 confirmed [+8], 395 probable [+2]
16803 (State College): 1,980 confirmed [+2], 309 probable [+4]
16802 (University Park): 1,635 confirmed, 100 probable
16866 (Philipsburg): 1,387 confirmed [+8], 229 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 791 confirmed [+1], 113 probable
16841 (Howard): 739 confirmed [+2], 85 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 509 confirmed, 60 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 508 confirmed [+1], 56 probable [+1]
16827 (Boalsburg): 461 confirmed [+1], 68 probable [+1]
16845 (Karthaus): 379 confirmed [+1], 28 probable
16844 (Julian): 377 confirmed [+1], 47 probable [+1]
16853 (Milesburg): 205 confirmed, 12 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 202 confirmed, 23 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 188 confirmed, 31 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 169 confirmed, 14 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 134 confirmed, 12 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 130 confirmed, 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 130 confirmed, 13 probable
16829 (Clarence): 124 confirmed, 26 probable [+2]
16872 (Rebersburg): 107 confirmed, 13 probable [+1]
16851 (Lemont): 93 confirmed, 20 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 66 confirmed [+1], 5 probable
16832 (Coburn): 63 confirmed, 5 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 53 confirmed [+1], 1-4 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 44 confirmed [+1], 8 probable [+1]
16856 (Mingoville): 37 confirmed, 9 probable
16835 (Fleming): 36 confirmed, 8 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 35 confirmed, 5 probable
16882 (Woodward): 25 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 15 confirmed [+1]
16804 (State College): 13 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties
Blair: 22,047 [+66]
Clearfield: 13,598 [+60]
Mifflin: 8,680 [+15]
Union: 8,560 [+41]
Huntingdon: 8,068 [+26]
Clinton: 6,406 [+7]
