Though new cases of the virus continued to trend upward, Centre County remained at the low community level for COVID-19 for a fifth consecutive week, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s update on Thursday night.
None of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties were at the high level for the third straight week as once again new cases rose but hospitalizations declined. Statewide, 39 counties were at low, eight fewer than last week, and 28 were at medium [+8].
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 94.84 per 100,000 people (up from 80.67 last week) and 7 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (down from 8.4), with 4.5% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (down from 5.1%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had 12 COVID-19 inpatients as of the hospital’s inpatient dashboard update on Friday. None are in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from less than 1 year old to 98. For the week of Feb. 11-17, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 9.7, down from 10.85 last week.
The county added 154 reported new cases in the last week, 23 more than the previous seven days, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 22, up from 18.7.
A total of 43,832 COVID-19 cases (39,124 confirmed and 4,708 probable) have been reported among Centre County residents since March 2020.
STATEWIDE
Pennsylvania registered 11,213 reported new positives over the last week, 59 more than the previous week’s new cases. The rolling seven-day average of 1,602 new cases is up from 1,593 the prior week.
The commonwealth’s case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,501,712.
According to the DOH data, 1,152 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide as of Wednesday, 28 fewer than a week earlier, with 110 in intensive care [-37] and 47 on ventilators [-5].
DEATHS
DOH recorded three new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 395.
With 134 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 50,055.
POSITIVITY RATE
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Feb. 8-14 was 13.3% up from 12.9%, the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 25th highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 12.2%, unchanged from the prior week.
VACCINATIONS
As of Wednesday morning, 102,819 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 80 since Feb. 8, and 13,054 are partially covered [-20]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 30,267 county residents [+206].
Among the county’s entire population, 75.2% have received at least one dose and 63.8% have completed the primary vaccine series, while 20.2% of eligible residents (age 5 and older) have received the bivalent booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 80% have received at least one dose, 67.6% have completed the primary series and 21.5% have received the bivalent booster booster.
Statewide, 82.7% of adults and 73.4% of the total population have completed the primary series, while the bivalent booster has been administered to 21.3% of adults and 18.8% of all residents age 5 and older.
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): 10,533 confirmed [+41], 1,427 probable [+9]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,725 confirmed [+27], 664 probable [+4]
16803 (State College): 4,534 confirmed [+22], 871 probable [+1]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,815 confirmed [+5], 355 probable [+1]
16802 (University Park): 2,115 confirmed [+1], 316 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,708 confirmed [+4], 229 probable [+3]
16841 (Howard): 1,336 confirmed [+3], 116 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 1,040 confirmed [+5], 134 probable [+3]
16828 (Centre Hall): 1,029 confirmed [+3], 102 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 816 confirmed [+3], 89 probable [+1]
16844 (Julian): 664 confirmed [+3], 57 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 570 confirmed, 33 probable [+1]
16853 (Milesburg): 363 confirmed [+1], 20 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 353 confirmed [+1], 40 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 350 confirmed [+3], 34 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 306 confirmed [+4], 18 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 292 confirmed [+1], 30 probable
16851 (Lemont): 228 confirmed, 34 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 224 confirmed, 28 probable
16829 (Clarence): 223 confirmed, 26 probable
16854 (Millheim): 211 confirmed [+1], 19 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 198 confirmed [+2], 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 133 confirmed, 14 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 127 confirmed, 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 113 confirmed, 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 108 confirmed, 12 probable [+1]
16835 (Fleming): 73 confirmed, 7 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 61 confirmed, 5 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 58 confirmed, 12 probable
16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16804 (State College): 24 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 23 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
CASES AMONG CENTRE COUNTY’S BORDERING COUNTIES
Blair: 34,902 [+86] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 24,214 [+87] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 15,053 [+34] Low Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,790 [+36] Low Community Level
Union: 13,482 [+35] Medium Community Level
Clinton: 11,068 [+14] Medium Community Level
