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Centre County Remains at Low Community Level for COVID-19

Centre County stayed at the low community level for COVID-19 for the 11th consecutive week as local new cases and hospitalizations linked to the virus remained mostly steady, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.

At the low level, the CDC recommends wearing a mask if symptomatic, if an individual has tested positive for COVID-19 or has been exposed to someone who has, and when on public transportation, but does not recommend universal indoor masking in public places.

Statewide, just one of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties — Mercer — is at the high level, the same as last week. Thirty-six are at low [-7] and 30 are at medium [+7].

Hospitalizations and cases
For a county to be at the low level, it 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.

Centre County had a case rate of 67.12 per 100,000 people (up from 64.66 last week) and 6.7 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (unchanged), with 6.2% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (up from 5.2%).

Mount Nittany Medical Center had nine COVID-19 inpatients on Friday, according to its inpatient dashboard, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 20 to 87. For the week of Nov. 26-Dec. 2, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 11.8, down from 13 last week.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s weekly update on Wednesday, 1,269 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, 140 more than a week ago, with 162 in intensive care [+18] and 60 on ventilators [+6].

Centre County added 109 reported new cases in the last week, four more than the previous seven days, according to DOH data. The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 15.6, up from 15.

The county has had a total of 42,369 COVID-19 cases (37,769 confirmed and 4,600 probable) since March 2020.

Pennsylvania registered 10,730 reported new positives over the last week, a 6% increase from new cases a week ago. The rolling seven-day average of 1,533 is up from 1,436 the prior week.

The commonwealth’s case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,360,797.

Deaths
DOH recorded no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, keeping the total at 379.

With 116 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 48,387.

Pennsylvania and Centre County COVID-19 dashboard for Nov. 23, 2022. Image via Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Nov. 23-29 was 10.7%, up from 8.9% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was the 23rd highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

The statewide positivity rate was 9.9%, up from 9.2% the prior week.

Vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 101,452 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 116 since Nov. 23, and 13,446 are partially covered [-65]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 23,972 county residents [+674].

Among the county’s entire population, 74.5% have received at least one dose, 63.2% have completed the primary vaccine series, while 16% of eligible residents (age 5 and older) have received the bivalent booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 79.3% have received at least one dose, 67% have completed the primary series and 17.1% have received the bivalent booster booster.

Statewide, 81.9% of adults and 72.5% of the total population have completed the primary series, while the bivalent booster has been administered to 16.4% of adults and 14.4% of all residents age 5 and older.

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

Vaccine providers are now administering bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccines, which provide additional protection against the original coronavirus and Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.

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. Pfizer boosters are now available for ages 5 and older and Moderna boosters are available for ages 6 and older.

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): 10,203 confirmed [+23], 1,399 probable [+2]

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,434 confirmed [+27], 652 probable [+1]

16803 (State College): 4.349 confirmed [+12], 855 probable

16866 (Philipsburg): 2,621 confirmed [+10], 336 probable

16802 (University Park): 2,071 confirmed [+1], 314 probable

16870 (Port Matilda): 1,652 confirmed [+5], 214 probable [+1]

16841 (Howard): 1,294 confirmed [+6], 112 probable

16827 (Boalsburg): 1,003 confirmed [+3], 126 probable

16828 (Centre Hall): 986 confirmed [+4], 98 probable

16875 (Spring Mills): 789 confirmed [+2], 83 probable

16844 (Julian): 636 confirmed [+2], 58 probable

16845 (Karthaus): 563 confirmed [+3], 32 probable

16853 (Milesburg): 345 confirmed [+1], 20 probable

16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 339 confirmed [+1], 32 probable

16874 (Snow Shoe): 328 confirmed [+2], 41 probable

16826 (Blanchard): 294 confirmed [+3],17 probable

16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 279 confirmed, 29 probable

16820 (Aaronsburg): 219 confirmed [+3], 28 probable [-1]

16851 (Lemont): 211 confirmed [+2], 33 probable

16829 (Clarence): 209 confirmed, 25 probable

16854 (Millheim): 208 confirmed, 18 probable

16872 (Rebersburg): 193 confirmed, 17 probable

16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 127 confirmed, 13 probable

16859 (Moshannon): 119 confirmed, 6 probable

16677 (Sandy Ridge): 112 confirmed [+1], 6 probable

16832 (Coburn): 105 confirmed, 11 probable

16835 (Fleming): 71 confirmed, 7 probable

16856 (Mingoville): 57 confirmed, 12 probable

16852 (Madisonburg): 57 confirmed, 5 probable

16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed

16804 (State College): 23 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed

16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed

16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed

Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties 

Blair: 33,984 [+67] Low Community Level

Clearfield: 23,154 [+66] Low Community Level

Mifflin: 14,461 [+49] Medium Community Level

Union: 13,149 [+41] Medium Community Level

Huntingdon: 13,317 [+35] Medium Community Level

Clinton: 10,702 [+30] Medium Community Level