Centre County Moves to High COVID-19 Community Level for First Time in 15 Weeks

Centre County is at the high community level for COVID-19 for the first time since the end of May, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s weekly update on Thursday night.

It marks only the third week that Centre County has been at the highest level since the CDC introduced the community level metrics in February. The county had been at the low level for the last two weeks.

At the high level, the CDC recommends that everyone wear a high-quality mask indoors in public and on public transportation, stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and get tested if symptomatic. Those at high risk for severe illness also should consider taking additional precautions, including avoiding non-essential indoor activities in public.

Nine of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are at the high community level, one fewer than last week. Twenty are at the low level and 38 are at the medium level [+1].

Though not factored into community levels, Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 6 was the third highest in the state at 26.1%, up from 21.7%% the previous seven days, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s early warning monitoring dashboard.

The statewide positivity rate was 16.3%, up slightly from 16.2% the prior week.

Hospitalizations and cases

A county with more than 200 new cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period is at the high community level if it has more than 10 COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people and/or more than 10% of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients over the same period.

Centre County had a case rate of 242.63 per 100,000 people, up from 190.29 last week, and 12.3 new COVID admissions per 100,000, up from 8.1, with 5.3% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients, up from 4.7%.

Mount Nittany Medical Center had 10 COVID-19 inpatients on Thursday, according to its inpatient dashboard, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 34 to 87. For the week of Sept. 2-8, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 13.1, with a high of 17 on Monday.

As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,171 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, 14 fewer than a week ago, with 146 in intensive care [+7] and 59 on ventilators [+8].

Centre County added 394 reported new cases in the last week, a 22% increase over the previous seven days, according to DOH data.

The seven-day rolling average for new cases is 56.2, up from 44.

The county has had a total of 40,522 COVID-19 cases (36,037 confirmed and 4,485 probable) since March 2020.

Pennsylvania registered 16,909 reported new positives over the last week, an 8% decrease from a week ago. The rolling seven-day average of 2,415 is down from 2,609 the prior week.

The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,202,811.

Deaths

DOH recorded no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, keeping the total at 368.

With 115 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 46,831.

Vaccinations

As of Wednesday morning, 97,554 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 47 since Aug. 31, and 15,359 are partially covered [+16]. First booster doses have been administered to 54,248 county residents [+43] and 12,969 have received a second booster [+73].

Among the county’s entire population, 72.7% have received at least one dose, 61.3% are fully vaccinated and 54.5% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 77.5% have received at least one dose, 65.4% are fully vaccinated and 56.3% have received a booster.

Statewide, 80% of adults and 70.6% 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): 9,838 confirmed [+92], 1,371 probable [+5]

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,063 confirmed [+51], 626 probable [+5]

16803 (State College): 4,110 confirmed [+57], 828 probable [+11]

16866 (Philipsburg): 2,420 confirmed [+16], 320 probable

16802 (University Park): 2,020 confirmed [+50], 312 probable [+1]

16870 (Port Matilda): 1,558 confirmed [+13], 202 probable [+3]

16841 (Howard): 1,224 confirmed [+8], 111 probable [+4]

16827 (Boalsburg): 942 confirmed [+4], 120 probable [+4]

16828 (Centre Hall): 942 confirmed [+7], 94 probable [+1]

16875 (Spring Mills): 740 confirmed [+5], 81 probable

16844 (Julian): 598 confirmed [+5], 58 probable

16845 (Karthaus): 536 confirmed, 33 probable

16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 327 confirmed, 31 probable [+1]

16853 (Milesburg): 323 confirmed [+1], 20 probable

16874 (Snow Shoe): 307 confirmed, 42 probable [+1]

16826 (Blanchard): 279 confirmed [+2], 16 probable

16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 263 confirmed [+1], 28 probable

16820 (Aaronsburg): 207 confirmed [+1], 29 probable

16829 (Clarence): 203 confirmed [+2], 25 probable

16854 (Millheim): 200 confirmed [+1], 18 probable

16851 (Lemont): 194 confirmed, 29 probable

16872 (Rebersburg): 190 confirmed [+2], 17 probable

16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 123 confirmed, 13 probable

16859 (Moshannon): 111 confirmed [+1], 6 probable

16677 (Sandy Ridge): 103 confirmed [+3], 6 probable

16832 (Coburn): 98 confirmed [+2], 11 probable [+1]

16835 (Fleming): 69 confirmed [+2], 8 probable

16852 (Madisonburg): 56 confirmed, 5 probable

16856 (Mingoville): 54 confirmed, 12 probable [+1]

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: 32,660 [+187] Medium Community Level

Clearfield: 21,846 [+136] Medium Community Level

Mifflin: 13,628 [+96] High Community Level

Union: 12,695 [+39] Medium Community Level

Huntingdon: 12,710 [+105] High Community Level

Clinton: 10,152 [+64] Medium Community Level