Centre County remained at 76 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with no additional positives reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on Thursday.
The county also now has only one COVID-19 listed in the updated health department data, down from on Wednesday. The statewide COVID-19 death total also was adjusted to 1,421, down from 1,622 on Wednesday. All have been among adults, with most age 65 or older.
Earlier this week, the health department began reporting data about probable cases and probable-case deaths based upon a definition used by the Centers for Disease Control. Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said on Thursday afternoon that probable cases require intensive investigation which takes time and can result in day-to-day fluctuations in data.
Some of the probable-case deaths previously reported required further review, resulting in the decrease in the death count.
‘These cases were previously reported as probable but further review has determined that we needed more information before we could attribute them to a death related to COVID-19,’ she said.
Levine said probable cases make up only about 2 percent of the state’s total case count.
A previously reported COVID-19 death at a Centre County nursing or personal care home was no longer listed in health department data on Thursday. The other previously reported death was an 89-year-old man who had tested positive and was being treated at Mount Nittany Medical Center when he died on April 17.
Across Pennsylvania, 1,369 additional positive cases of COVID-19 were reported on Thursday, bringing the commonwealth’s total to 37,053.
Among Centre County’s bordering counties, Union now has 30 cases, Mifflin has 24, Huntingdon has 20, Blair has 15, Clinton has 14 and Clearfield has 11.
A total of 142,061 patients in Pennsylvania have tested negative for COVID-19, including 718 people in Centre County. Across Pennsylvania, 2,745 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, with 663 requiring a ventilator, as of noon on Thursday.
Individual county data is available at the Department of Health website.
