Centre County remained at the low COVID-19 community level for the 16th consecutive week as more counties statewide moved to medium and high in the days following the winter holidays, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.
Reflecting a statewide increase in cases and hospitalizations linked to the virus, seven of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are at the high level, six more than last week, and 44 are at medium [+13]. Sixteen are at the low level [-19] .
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 78.21 per 100,000 people (up from 71.44 last week) and 7.7 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (down from 8.8), with 6.2% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (up from 3.7%).
The county added 127 reported new cases in the last week, 11 more than the previous seven days, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 18.1, up from 16.6.
A total of 43,066 COVID-19 cases (38,426 confirmed and 4,640 probable) have been reported among Centre County residents since March 2020.
Mount Nittany Medical Center had 14 COVID-19 inpatients as of the hospital’s inpatient dashboard update on Thursday. None are in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 31 to 87. For the week of Dec. 30-Jan. 5, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 13.3, up from 10 last week.
STATEWIDE
Pennsylvania registered 15,719 reported new positives over the last week, 2,754 more than the previous week’s new cases. The rolling seven-day average of 2,246 is up from 1,852 the prior week.
The commonwealth’s case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,431,861.
According to the DOH data, 1,747 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide as of Wednesday, 216 more than a week earlier, with 205 in intensive care [+43] and 97 on ventilators [+16].
DEATHS
DOH recorded no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, keeping the total at 385.
With 142 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 49,034.
POSITIVITY RATE
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Dec. 28-Jan. 3 was 12.7%, up from 11.5% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was tied for 26th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 15.4%, up from 13.3% the prior week.
VACCINATIONS
As of Wednesday morning, 102,252 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 168 since Dec. 28, and 13,159 are partially covered [-90]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 28,225 county residents [+631].
Among the county’s entire population, 74.9% have received at least one dose and 63.5% have completed the primary vaccine series, while 18.9% of eligible residents (age 5 and older) have received the bivalent booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 79.7% have received at least one dose, 67.4% have completed the primary series and 20.1% have received the bivalent booster booster.
Statewide, 82.4% of adults and 73% of the total population have completed the primary series, while the bivalent booster has been administered to 19.7% of adults and 17.4% 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): 10,354 confirmed [+28], 1,408 probable [-1]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,568 confirmed [+30], 656 probable [+1]
16803 (State College): 4,445 confirmed [+11], 868 probable [+3]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,726 confirmed [+22], 336 probable [-4]
16802 (University Park): 2,085 confirmed, 314 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,678 confirmed [+6], 217 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,317 confirmed [+7], 116 probable [+1]
16827 (Boalsburg): 1,019 confirmed [+4], 129 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 1,005 confirmed [+2], 101 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 804 confirmed [+2], 85 probable
16844 (Julian): 652 confirmed [+5], 58 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 565 confirmed [+1], 32 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 354 confirmed, 20 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 344 confirmed [+2], 32 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 343 confirmed [+3], 40 probable [-1]
16826 (Blanchard): 296 confirmed, 18 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 288 confirmed, 30 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 223 confirmed [+2], 28 probable
16851 (Lemont): 220 confirmed [+1], 34 probable
16829 (Clarence): 214 confirmed [+2], 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 208 confirmed, 18 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 195 confirmed, 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 130 confirmed [+1], 13 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 127 confirmed, 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 112 confirmed, 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 107 confirmed [+1], 11 probable
16835 (Fleming): 73 confirmed, 7 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 60 confirmed [+1], 5 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 57 confirmed, 12 probable
16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16804 (State College): 24 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 23 confirmed [+1]
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
CASES AMONG CENTRE COUNTY’S BORDERING COUNTIES
Blair: 34,452 [+109] Medium Community Level
Clearfield: 23,677 [+166] Medium Community Level
Mifflin: 14,785 [+74] Medium Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,569 [+48] Medium Community Level
Union: 13,337 [+34] Medium Community Level
Clinton: 10,908 [+48] High Community Level
