Centre County Adds 50 COVID-19 Cases; Pennsylvania Reports 4,573 New Positives

Centre County reported 50 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday to bring its total to 20,378, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Among total cases 18,438 are confirmed and 1,940 are probable.

Pennsylvania added 4,573 positives to increase the statewide total to 1,534,882.

The county also had 109 new negative test results for a total of 81,951. Statewide there were 9,056 negatives to bring the total to 5,663,941.

Deaths

DOH reported no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents, keeping the total at 242.

With 61 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry, the statewide total is now 30,964.

Hospitalizations

According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, 35 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in Centre County, unchanged from Friday. One is in intensive care [-1] and one is on a ventilator.

Mount Nittany Medical Center reported on Friday that its COVID-19 inpatients ranged in age from 18 to 94. Nine are fully vaccinated and 26 are not vaccinated.

The medical center has had an average daily COVID-19 inpatient census of 34 in October, up from 27 in September.

“We continue to be very concerned about the high number of COVID cases and hospitalizations,” Tiffany Cabibbo, executive vice president for patient care services and chief nursing officer, said in a statement. “This is impacting our community and our local healthcare providers every day.

“We continue to monitor the situation and make daily adjustments to operations as needed, including rescheduling elective surgeries that require an overnight stay. Our mission is to do as much as we possibly can for everyone who needs our services. It’s disappointing not to be able to do that.”

Statewide, Pennsylvania has 2,875 COVID-19 inpatients, a decrease of 25 since Friday, with 668 in intensive care and 378 on ventilators [-9]. It was the fourth consecutive day statewide hospitalizations decreased.

For the week of Oct. 15-21, Pennsylvania had 2,953.6 average daily COVID hospitalizations, down from 2,964.3 the prior week, according to the updated Department of Health early warning monitoring dashboard.

An estimated 91% of COVID-19 patients in the state have recovered, according to a DOH calculation that considers a case as recovered if it has not been reported as a death and it is more than 30 days past the date of the first positive test or onset of symptoms.

Positivity rate

Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Oct. 15-21 was 6.9%, down from 7.9% the previous seven days, according to the monitoring dashboard. The rate was seventh lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

The county had 205 new cases for that seven-day period, 68 fewer than the prior week.

The statewide positivity rate was 9.2%, down from 9.7% the previous seven days. The commonwealth had 21,821 new positives between Oct. 15-21, 3,813 fewer than the prior week.

Cases Among Children

For the 2021-2022 school year, DOH is providing weekly updated case counts for two age groups: 0-4 capturing preschool and daycare age children and 5-18 capturing kindergarten through high school age children. The case counts do not necessarily represent exposure in school or daycare settings and the location of exposure cannot be determined in most cases.

For the week of Oct. 13-19, there were 14 new cases among children in the 0-4 age group and 38 in the 5-18 age group in Centre County. About 24% of all cases in Centre County that week were among children 0-18.

Since Aug. 16, there have been 676 cases among individuals between the ages of 0 and 18 in Centre County — 101 between the ages of 0-4 and 575 between the ages of 5 and 18 — representing about 23% of all cases during that time.

Transmission level

All 67 counties in Pennsylvania are at the highest level for community transmission of COVID-19 on the Centers for Disease Control scale, according to the latest county-level data update on Saturday.

Transmission levels are based on positivity rate and cases per 100,000 people for the previous seven days. At the substantial and high levels, CDC guidance recommends all people, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in public indoor settings.

Vaccinations

As of Saturday morning, 84,468 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated [+171 since Friday] and 6,927 are partially covered [+152]. Third doses have been administered to 7,272 county residents [+575].

Among the county’s entire population, 64.6% have received at least one dose and 54.6% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 72% have received at least one dose and 60.8% are fully vaccinated

Statewide, 71.1% of adults and 59.9% of the total population are fully vaccinated. Pennsylvania is fifth in the nation for total doses administered, according the CDC.

Vaccination appointments for ages 12 and older are available through Centre Volunteers in Medicine, Mount Nittany Health and through other 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): 6,262 confirmed [+1], 514 probable

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 3,364 confirmed [+11], 335 probable

16803 (State College): 1,737 confirmed [+4], 256 probable [+2]

16802 (University Park): 1,545 confirmed [+1], 74 probable

16866 (Philipsburg): 1,114 confirmed [+6], 167 probable

16870 (Port Matilda): 674 confirmed [+3], 102 probable [+2]

16841 (Howard): 575 confirmed [+1], 71 probable

16828 (Centre Hall): 410 confirmed, 43 probable

16875 (Spring Mills): 404 confirmed [+2], 50 probable

16827 (Boalsburg): 392 confirmed [+1], 55 probable

16845 (Karthaus): 320 confirmed, 20 probable

16844 (Julian): 294 confirmed [+2], 34 probable

16853 (Milesburg): 166 confirmed, 11 probable

16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 163 confirmed [+2], 21 probable

16874 (Snow Shoe): 148 confirmed, 22 probable

16826 (Blanchard): 128 confirmed, 13 probable [+1]

16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 110 confirmed, 10 probable

16829 (Clarence): 102 confirmed, 21 probable

16854 (Millheim): 102 confirmed [+1], 8 probable

16820 (Aaronsburg): 99 confirmed, 21 probable

16872 (Rebersburg): 87 confirmed, 11 probable

16851 (Lemont): 76 confirmed [+4], 15 probable

16859 (Moshannon): 56 confirmed [+1], 1-4 probable

16832 (Coburn): 47 confirmed, 5 probable

16677 (Sandy Ridge): 44 confirmed, 1-4 probable

16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 35 confirmed, 5 probable

16856 (Mingoville): 31 confirmed, 8 probable

16852 (Madisonburg): 31 confirmed, 5 probable

16835 (Fleming): 30 confirmed, 7 probable

16882 (Woodward): 18 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed

16863 (Orviston): 14 confirmed

16804 (State College): 12 confirmed

Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties

Blair: 17,031 [+86]

Clearfield: 11,021 [+31]

Union: 7,339 [+42]

Mifflin: 7,128 [+37]

Huntingdon: 6,742 [+11]

Clinton: 4,839 [+30]