Centre County remained at the low community level for COVID-19 for the fifth consecutive week as hospitalizations linked to the virus ticked up but new cases fell, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.
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.
More than half of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are at the low level
Just one county — Crawford — is at the high level, two fewer than last week. Thirty-seven are at the low level [+8] and 29 are at medium [-7].
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 80.06 per 100,000 people (down from 87.45 last week) and 9.5 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (up from 4.9), with 3.6% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (up from 3.2%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had 10 COVID-19 inpatients on Friday, according to its inpatient dashboard, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 1 to 86. For the week of Oct. 15-21, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 13.3, up from 7.6 last week.
As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,228 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, 45 more than a week ago, with 154 in intensive care [+15] and 64 on ventilators [+2].
Centre County added 130 reported new cases in the last week, an 8% decrease from the previous seven days, according to DOH data.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases is 18.6., down from 20.2.
The county has had a total of 41,621 COVID-19 cases (37,070 confirmed and 4,551 probable) since March 2020.
Pennsylvania registered 10,843 reported new positives over the last week, an 18% decrease from a week ago. The rolling seven-day average of 1,549 is down from 1,894 the prior week.
The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,291,033.
Deaths
DOH recorded one new death attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 374.
With 140 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 47,582.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Oct. 12-18 was 12.4%, up from 10.5% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 31st lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 11.4%, down from 11.7% the prior week.
Vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 99,833 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 377 since Oct. 12, and 14,218 are partially covered [-183]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 14,434 county residents [+2,272].
Among the county’s entire population, 73.5% have received at least one dose, 62.3% have completed the primary vaccine series and 55.2% have received at least one booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 78.3% have received at least one dose, 66.3% have completed the primary series and 57.1% have received a booster.
Statewide, 80.9% of adults and 71.5% of the total population have completed the primary series, while at least one booster dose has been administered to 48.1% of adults and 45.6% of the total population.
Vaccination appointments are available through pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.
Vaccine providers are now administering updated COVID-19 booster vaccines, which provide additional protection against the original coronavirus and Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
Individuals must have already received their primary vaccination series — two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson — to be eligible for the new updated booster shot. Pfizer boosters are now available for ages 5 and older and Moderna boosters are available for ages 6 and older.
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): 10,071 confirmed [+23], 1,387 probable [+6]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,273 confirmed [+29], 641 probable [-2]
16803 (State College): 4,273 confirmed [+18], 845 probable
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,488 confirmed [+10], 331 probable
16802 (University Park): 2,064 confirmed, 313 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,612 confirmed [+11], 208 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,268 confirmed [+4], 111 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 975 confirmed [+8], 124 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 972 confirmed [+7], 95 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 768 confirmed [+4], 82 probable
16844 (Julian): 625 confirmed [+2], 58 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 547 confirmed [+1], 32 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 340 confirmed, 20 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 334 confirmed [+1], 32 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 321 confirmed [+1], 41 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 288 confirmed [+2],17 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 273 confirmed [+2], 29 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 213 confirmed, 29 probable
16851 (Lemont): 208 confirmed [+3], 33 probable [-1]
16829 (Clarence): 207 confirmed [+2], 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 207 confirmed, 18 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 190 confirmed, 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 126 confirmed, 13 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 114 confirmed [+1], 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 108 confirmed, 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 103 confirmed, 11 probable [+1]
16835 (Fleming): 69 confirmed, 8 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 57 confirmed [+1], 12 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 57 confirmed, 5 probable [-1]
16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16804 (State College): 22 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties
Blair: 33,488 [+113] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 22,628 [+126] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 14,192 [+87] Medium Community Level
Union: 12,927 [+32] Medium Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,085 [+22] Medium Community Level
Clinton: 10,479 [+43] Medium Community Level
