Health Department Reports First COVID-19 Death in Centre County

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Friday confirmed Centre County’s first death from COVID-19. The patient had been hospitalized at Mount Nittany Medical Center, a spokesperson said.

Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers said in a news release on Friday night that the patient who died was an 89-year-old man. Sayers was notified of the death on Thursday according to the release. The man’s name was not released.

It was one of 49 new deaths of COVID-19 patients in the commonwealth reported on Friday, bringing Pennsylvania’s death toll from the coronavirus to 756. All deaths have been among adults, with most age 65 or older.

Centre County had no new confirmed cases of COVID-19, with the total remaining at 73. There have been 570 people in the county who have tested negative for the virus as of Friday morning, according to the health department.

Statewide, 1,706 new positives were confirmed on Friday, bringing Pennsylvania’s total number of cases to 29,441.

Among bordering counties, Union now has 26 cases, Mifflin has 17, Blair has 14, Huntingdon has 12, Clinton has 10 and Clearfield has nine.

A total of 117,932 patients in Pennsylvania have tested negative for COVID-19. Statewide, 2,587 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, with 653 requiring a ventilator, as of noon on Wednesday.