Centre County Moves Down to Medium COVID-19 Community Level

Centre County moved down to the medium community level for COVID-19 as new cases and hospitalizations linked to the virus declined over the last week, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.

The county reached the high level a week ago for the first time in nearly four months.

At the medium level, the CDC recommends that individuals at high risk for severe illness consider wearing a mask indoors in public and taking additional precautions such as staying 6 feet away from others, avoiding crowded and poorly ventilated spaces. Anyone who has symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should also wear a mask, according to the CDC. Masks should be worn on public transportation, as well.

Statewide, 14 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are at the high level, five more than last week, including neighboring Clinton and Mifflin. Twenty are at the low level and 33 are at medium [-5].

Hospitalizations and cases

For a county that has more than 200 new cases per 100,000 people in a week, to be at the medium level requires fewer than 10 COVID hospital admissions per 100,000 and a seven-day average of less than 10% of hospital beds occupied by COVID inpatients.

Centre County had a case rate of 206.92 per 100,000 people, down from 242.63 last week, and seven new COVID admissions per 100,000, down from 12.3, with 4.7% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients, down from 5.3%.

Mount Nittany Medical Center had 11 COVID-19 inpatients on Friday, according to its inpatient dashboard, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 57 to 87. For the week of Sept. 10-16, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 10.1.

As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,171 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, the same as a week ago, with 133 in intensive care [-13] and 56 on ventilators [-3].

Centre County added 336 reported new cases in the last week, a 15% decrease from the previous seven days, according to DOH data.

The seven-day rolling average for new cases is 48, down from 56.2.

The county has had a total of 40,858 COVID-19 cases (36,354 confirmed and 4,504 probable) since March 2020.

Pennsylvania registered 17,506 reported new positives over the last week, an 4% increase from a week ago. The rolling seven-day average of 2,500 is up from from 2,415 the prior week.

The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,220,317.

Deaths

DOH recorded one new death attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 369.

With 139 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 46,970.

Positivity rate

Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Sept. 7-13 was 20.3%, down from 25.7%% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 13th highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

The statewide positivity rate was 15.6%, down from 16.3% the prior week.

Vaccinations

As of Wednesday morning, 97,787 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 233 since Sept. 7, and 15,266 are partially covered [-93]. First booster doses have been administered to 54,322 county residents [+74] and 13,001 have received a second booster [+32].

Among the county’s entire population, 72.8% have received at least one dose, 61.4% are fully vaccinated and 54.5% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 77.6% have received at least one dose, 65.5% are fully vaccinated and 56.3% have received a booster.

Statewide, 80.1% of adults and 70.7% of the total population are fully vaccinated, while at least one booster dose has been administered to 47.1% of adults and 44.6% of the total population.

Vaccination appointments are available through pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.

Vaccine providers have begun administering updated COVID-19 booster vaccines. The vaccines, which provide additional protection against the original coronavirus and Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, were recently approved by the CDC after receiving emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. 

The new Pfizer vaccine is available to individuals 12 years of age and older, while the new Moderna booster shot is available to people 18 years of age and older.  Individuals must have already received their primary vaccination series — two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson — to be eligible for the new updated booster shot.

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): 9,923 confirmed [+85], 1,373 probable [+2]

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,117 confirmed [+54], 627 probable [+1]

16803 (State College): 4,173 confirmed [+63], 836 probable [+8]

16866 (Philipsburg): 2,434 confirmed [+14], 321 probable [+1]

16802 (University Park): 2,047 confirmed [+27], 313 probable [+1]

16870 (Port Matilda): 1,564 confirmed [+6], 207 probable [+5]

16841 (Howard): 1,238 confirmed [+14], 111 probable

16828 (Centre Hall): 949 confirmed [+7], 93 probable [-1]

16827 (Boalsburg): 947 confirmed [+5], 122 probable [+2]

16875 (Spring Mills): 747 confirmed [+7], 82 probable [+1]

16844 (Julian): 602 confirmed [+4], 59 probable [+1]

16845 (Karthaus): 536 confirmed, 33 probable

16853 (Milesburg): 329 confirmed [+6], 21 probable [+1]

16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 328 confirmed [+1], 31 probable

16874 (Snow Shoe): 313 confirmed [+6], 41 probable [-1]

16826 (Blanchard): 279 confirmed,16 probable

16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 266 confirmed [+3], 29 probable [+1]

16820 (Aaronsburg): 207 confirmed, 29 probable

16829 (Clarence): 203 confirmed, 25 probable

16854 (Millheim): 201 confirmed [+1], 18 probable

16851 (Lemont): 199 confirmed [+5], 30 probable [+1]

16872 (Rebersburg): 190 confirmed, 17 probable

16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 124 confirmed [+1], 13 probable

16859 (Moshannon): 112 confirmed [+1], 6 probable

16677 (Sandy Ridge): 104 confirmed [+1], 6 probable

16832 (Coburn): 99 confirmed [+1], 10 probable [-1]

16835 (Fleming): 69 confirmed, 8 probable

16852 (Madisonburg): 56 confirmed, 5 probable

16856 (Mingoville): 55 confirmed [+1], 12 probable

16882 (Woodward): 46 confirmed, 5 confirmed

16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed

16804 (State College): 21 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed

16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed

Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties 

Blair: 32,874 [+214] Low Community Level

Clearfield: 21,994 [+148] Low Community Level

Mifflin: 13,732 [+104] High Community Level

Union: 12,740 [+45] Medium Community Level

Huntingdon: 12,787 [+77] Medium Community Level

Clinton: 10,244 [+92] High Community Level