Centre County Stays at Low COVID-19 Community Level; WHO Declares End to Global Emergency Status

Centre County and most of Pennsylvania remain at the low community level for COVID-19 as reported new cases and hospitalizations continue to plummet, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.

It marks the 10th consecutive week Centre County is at the low community level. After two weeks with all Pennsylvania counties at the low level, one — Crawford — is at medium this week. The other 66 counties remain at low.

More than 98% of counties nationwide are at the low community level. 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.

The World Health Organization on Friday declared an end to the global emergency status for COVID-19. The global health agency’s highest level of alert had been in place since Jan. 30, 2020. Countries should continue to manage COVID as a health threat, however, according to the WHO.

In the United States, the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration will officially end on May 11.

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 8.01 per 100,000 people (down from 13.9 last week) and 2.8 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (down from 3.5), with 1.9% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (down from 2.6%), according to the CDC. Cases were calculated from April 27-May 4 and hospitalization figures were calculated using data from April 26-May 2.

Mount Nittany Medical Center had two 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 29-May 5, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 3.8, down from 4.5 last week.

The county added 13 reported new cases in the last week, nine fewer than the previous seven days, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 1.8, down from 3.1.

A total of 44,630 COVID-19 cases (39,853 confirmed and 4,777 probable) have been reported among Centre County residents since March 2020.

STATEWIDE

Pennsylvania registered 1,326 reported new positives over the last week, 574 fewer than the previous week’s new cases. The rolling seven-day average of 189 new cases is down from 271 the prior week.

The commonwealth’s case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,557,354.

Hospitalizations linked to the virus declined for the 17th consecutive week. According to DOH data, 259 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide as of Wednesday, 31 fewer than a week earlier, with 23 in intensive care [unchanged] and 20 on ventilators [+4].

DEATHS
DOH recorded two new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 405.

With 43 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 51,042.

VACCINATIONS
As of Wednesday morning, 103,318 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 34 since April 26, and 12,971 are partially covered [-30]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 31,410 county residents [+86].

Among the county’s entire population, 75.5% have received at least one dose and 64.1% have completed the primary vaccine series, while 20.1% have received the bivalent booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 80.3% have received at least one dose, 67.9% have completed the primary series and 22.2% have received the bivalent booster booster.

Statewide, 83.1% of adults and 73.7% of the total population have completed the primary series, while the bivalent booster has been administered to 22.2% of adults and 18.8% 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): 10,689 confirmed [+3], 1,439 probable

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,932 confirmed [+2], 675 probable

16803 (State College): 4,629 confirmed [+3], 890 probable [+1]

16866 (Philipsburg): 2,915 confirmed, 371 probable

16802 (University Park): 2,133 confirmed [+1], 318 probable

16870 (Port Matilda): 1,727 confirmed [+1], 231 probable

16841 (Howard): 1,359 confirmed [+1], 115 probable

16827 (Boalsburg): 1,064 confirmed, 139 probable

16828 (Centre Hall): 1,046 confirmed , 104 probable

16875 (Spring Mills): 830 confirmed, 90 probable

16844 (Julian): 667 confirmed, 57 probable

16845 (Karthaus): 574 confirmed, 33 probable

16853 (Milesburg): 379 confirmed, 20 probable

16874 (Snow Shoe): 357 confirmed, 43 probable

16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 356 confirmed, 36 probable [+1]

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): 62 confirmed [+1], 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: 35,489 [+2] Low Community Level

Clearfield: 24,768 [+10] Low Community Level

Mifflin: 15,302 [+4] Low Community Level

Huntingdon: 13,992 [+2] Low Community Level

Union: 13,641 [+2] Low Community Level

Clinton: 11,305 [+5] Low Community Level