Centre County remained at the low community level for COVID-19 for the seventh consecutive week, 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.
Five of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties — Bradford, Mercer, Sullivan, Susquehanna and Tioga — are at the high level, one more than last week. Thirty-one are at the low level [-1] and 31 are at medium.
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 89.91 per 100,000 people (up from 84.37 last week) and 8.8 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (down from 9.1), with 5.5% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (up from 5.1%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had 10 COVID-19 inpatients on Friday, according to its inpatient dashboard, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 69 to 89. For the week of Oct. 29-Nov. 4, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 12.7, up from 10.4 last week.
As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,248 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, 53 fewer than a week ago, with 172 in intensive care [+17] and 69 on ventilators [+4].
Centre County added 146 reported new cases in the last week, nine more than the previous seven days, according to DOH data.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases is 20.8, up from 19.6
The county has had a total of 41,904 COVID-19 cases (37,332 confirmed and 4,572 probable) since March 2020.
Pennsylvania registered 13,038 reported new positives over the last week, a 6% decrease from new cases a week ago. The rolling seven-day average of 1,862 is down from 1,969 the prior week.
The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,317,854.
Deaths
DOH recorded two new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 377.
With 135 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 47,840.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Oct. 16-Nov. 1 was 12.1%, up from 11.8% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 33rd lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 11.5%, up from 11.2% the prior week.
Vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 100,485 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 256 since Oct. 26, and 13,929 are partially covered [-120]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 18,377 county residents [+1,637].
Among the county’s entire population, 73.9% have received at least one dose, 62.7% have completed the primary vaccine series and 55.5% have received at least one booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 78.7% have received at least one dose, 66.6% have completed the primary series and 57.4% have received a booster.
Statewide, 81.3% of adults and 71.9% of the total population have completed the primary series, while at least one booster dose has been administered to 48.5% of adults and 46% of the total population.
Vaccination appointments are available through pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.
Vaccine providers are now administering updated 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): 10,121 confirmed [+25], 1,393 probable [+1]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,334 confirmed [+35], 645 probable [+4]
16803 (State College): 4,303 confirmed [+18], 849 probable [+3]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,535 confirmed [+18], 334 probable [+2]
16802 (University Park): 2,068 confirmed [+3], 313 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,627 confirmed [+8], 211 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,279 confirmed [+7], 111 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 984 confirmed [+6], 124 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 976 confirmed [+1], 97 probable [+1]
16875 (Spring Mills): 778 confirmed [+5], 83 probable [+1]
16844 (Julian): 629 confirmed [+3], 58 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 556 confirmed, 32 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 342 confirmed [+1], 20 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 338 confirmed [+3], 32 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 325 confirmed [+3], 41 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 289 confirmed [+1],17 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 275 confirmed, 29 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 215 confirmed, 29 probable
16851 (Lemont): 208 confirmed, 33 probable
16829 (Clarence): 208 confirmed [+1], 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 207 confirmed, 18 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 191 confirmed [+1], 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 127 confirmed [+1], 13 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 116 confirmed [+2], 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 108 confirmed, 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 103 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): 22 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties
Blair: 33,734 [+106] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 22,863 [+103] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 14,286 [+52] Medium Community Level
Union: 13,007 [+36] Medium Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,174 [+43] Medium Community Level
Clinton: 10,559 [+45] Medium Community Level
