Centre County Moves to Low COVID-19 Community Level, Adds 9 Cases

Centre County has dropped to the “low” community level for COVID-19, according to updated Centers for Disease Control data on Thursday.

Introduced on Feb. 25, community levels measure not only new cases, but also new hospitalizations and local hospital capacity to determine mitigation guidelines. At the low level, there is no recommendation for indoor masking and at the medium level masks are recommended only for those with increased risk of severe illness. At the high level, universal indoor masking in places open to the public is recommended.

Centre County was at the high level for the first week of the new metrics and dropped to the medium level on March 3. At the low level, a community has fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period, with fewer than 10 COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people and less than 10% of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients over the same period.

All 67 counties in Pennsylvania are at the low or medium level this week.

New cases

Centre County recorded nine new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, marking the fourth time in five days with a single-digit increase.

The new cases bring the county’s total to 34,876 (30,990 confirmed and 3,886 probable), according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Centre County’s seven-day moving average for new cases is 11, down from 22 a week ago and 66 a month ago. The average is the county’s lowest since Aug. 5.

Pennsylvania registered 1,033 new positives to increase the statewide total to 2,767,303.

The commonwealth’s seven-day average is 955, down from 1,323 a week ago and 4,534 a month ago. The statewide average is at its lowest since July 31.

Hospitalizations

Mount Nittany Medical Center has four COVID-19 inpatients, unchanged from Wednesday, with one in intensive care and none on ventilators. Local COVID hospitalizations are at their lowest level since late July.

The patients range in age from from 31 to 88, according to Mount Nittany’s COVID-19 inpatient dashboard. Two are fully vaccinated and two are not vaccinated.

Statewide, COVID-19 hospitalizations are at their lowest level since Aug. 10. According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, 902 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in Pennsylvania, 79 fewer than on Wednesday, with 159 in intensive care and 90 on ventilators [-10].

Deaths

DOH reported no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents, keeping the total at 345.

With 37 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry, the statewide total is now 43,767.

Prison cases

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Benner state prison has one active COVID-19 case among inmates and one among staff [-1].

Rockview state prison has no active inmate cases and two among staff [+1].

Both facilities are in Benner Township.

At Benner, 1,444 inmates are fully vaccinated, 13 are partially vaccinated and 195 are not vaccinated. Among staff, 314 are fully vaccinated and 314 are not vaccinated.

Rockview has 1,695 inmates who are fully vaccinated and 66 who are not vaccinated. Among staff, 351 are fully vaccinated and 366 are not vaccinated.

Vaccinations

As of Thursday morning, 94,402 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 22 since Wednesday, and 14,116 are partially covered [-3]. Booster doses have been administered to 49,146 county residents [+23].

Among the county’s entire population, 69.5% have received at least one dose, 59.2% are fully vaccinated and 50.8% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 74.8% have received at least one dose, 63.3% are fully vaccinated and 53.5% have received a booster.

Statewide, 76.7% of adults and 67.2% of the total population are fully vaccinated.

Vaccination appointments are available through Centre Volunteers in Medicine, Mount Nittany Health and through other pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.

All individuals age 12 and older are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine 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): 8,545 confirmed [+2], 1,178 probable

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 6,183 confirmed [+3], 569 probable [-1]

16803 (State College): 3,211 confirmed [+1], 647 probable [+1]

16866 (Philipsburg): 2,062 confirmed [+4], 297 probable

16802 (University Park): 1,840 confirmed [+2], 275 probable [+1]

16870 (Port Matilda): 1,271 confirmed, 169 probable

16841 (Howard): 1,075 confirmed, 99 probable

16828 (Centre Hall): 779 confirmed, 81 probable

16827 (Boalsburg): 736 confirmed [+1], 101 probable

16875 (Spring Mills): 647 confirmed, 73 probable

16844 (Julian): 540 confirmed, 52 probable

16845 (Karthaus): 518 confirmed, 35 probable

16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 294 confirmed, 29 probable

16853 (Milesburg): 285 confirmed, 20 probable

16874 (Snow Shoe): 273 confirmed, 37 probable

16826 (Blanchard): 244 confirmed [+1], 16 probable

16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 222 confirmed, 21 probable

16820 (Aaronsburg): 191 confirmed, 25 probable

16829 (Clarence): 179 confirmed, 24 probable

16854 (Millheim): 179 confirmed, 15 probable

16872 (Rebersburg): 165 confirmed, 16 probable

16851 (Lemont): 158 confirmed, 25 probable

16859 (Moshannon): 98 confirmed, 6 probable

16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 97 confirmed, 11 probable

16832 (Coburn): 90 confirmed, 8 probable

16677 (Sandy Ridge): 81 confirmed [+1], 5 probable [-1]

16835 (Fleming): 59 confirmed, 8 probable

16856 (Mingoville): 51 confirmed, 10 probable

16852 (Madisonburg): 45 confirmed, 5 probable

16882 (Woodward): 39 confirmed, 5 confirmed

16804 (State College): 20 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed

16863 (Orviston): 20 confirmed

16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed

Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties

Blair: 29,499 [+14]

Clearfield: 19,148 [+9]

Mifflin: 12,229 [+5]

Union: 11,641 [+8]

Huntingdon: 11,448 [+5]

Clinton: 8,996 [+1]