Penn State Reports 229 New COVID-19 Cases at University Park after Thousands of Departure Tests

Penn State reported more than 200 new COVID-19 cases at University Park in its semi-weekly update on Tuesday, largely resulting from thousands of departure tests performed last week before Thanksgiving break and the end of campus-based instruction for the semester.

The 229 new positives in the university’s updated COVID-19 dashboard bring the campus community’s total to 4,845 since Aug. 7, including 35 employee cases. Of those, 354 are considered active.

Tuesday’s numbers included 213 student positives from 14,903 on-demand and random screening tests that had been previously pending for the week of Nov. 13-19. For the week, there were a total of 379 student positives — 376 from 14,449 completed on-demand tests and three from 454 completed random screening tests.

Five additional employee positives also were reported for the week.

For tests performed Friday through Sunday, 10 students tested positive out of 28 completed on-demand tests and one employee tested positive from 34 completed on-demand screenings.

On-demand tests include voluntary departure tests, which the university encouraged students to get prior to leaving for break to limit the spread of the virus among their families and home communities. 

Departure testing concluded on Thursday. In total, 14,949 departure tests were performed from Nov. 12 to 19, with 341 positive results reported to date. The results of the few tests that were still awaiting results will be included in the university’s next dashboard update, which will be on Dec. 1. No Friday update will be provided this week because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

The university is urging students who test positive to isolate on campus or in a single-occupancy space off campus before leaving for Thanksgiving break, or if they do choose to return home to take appropriate precautions to self-isolate.

According to the updated dashboard, 31 students are currently in on-campus isolation and eight are in on-campus quarantine. 

Penn State plans to return to in-person classes for the spring semester the week of Jan. 18. If that holds, the university’s plans for pre-arrival testing are not yet know.

Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine announced last week several targeted mitigation measures as cases and hospitalizations across Pennsylvania continue to surge.

Among those are recommendations for for colleges and universities, which include testing all students at the beginning of each semester, when returning to campus after a break and to have regular screening testing throughout the semester.

Prior to the start of the fall semester, the university did not require testing of all students, but instead performed targeted testing of about 23,000 students coming to campus from COVID-19 hotspots. Penn State has conducted random screening throughout the semester.

In the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s daily update on Tuesday, Centre County reported 110 new COVID-19 cases. DOH figures for the county include Penn State testing results. Because the university provides a public update only twice a week and its tests are not specifically identified in DOH reporting, it’s not clear when Penn State cases have been reported.

Mount Nittany Medical Center had 30 COVID-19 inpatients as of Tuesday morning, and increase of four since Monday The patients range in age from 36 to 94.

Since the start of Penn State’s fall semester in August, Centre County has reported 5,452 new COVID-19 cases. From March through August 24, the county had a total of 423.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have continued to increase as well.Mount Nittany Medical Center admitted 16 COVID-positive patients for the entire month of September. In October, the hospital admitted 58 COVID patients and had an average of 11 COVID inpatients per day. As of Friday, Mount Nittany had admitted 70 COVID patients in November and had an average daily census of 18 COVID inpatients.

Twenty-two of the county’s 33 COVID-19 deaths confirmed by the Centre County Coroner’s Office have occurred in the last five weeks.