Centre County Remains at Low COVID-19 Community Level

Centre County stayed at the low community level for COVID-19 for the second consecutive week, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s update on Thursday night.

While new cases ticked up, hospitalizations linked to the virus declined as the county remained at the low level for the 18th time in 19 weeks.

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, Centre County is one of 40 counties at the low level, four more than last week as new cases and hospitalizations again fell across Pennsylvania. Twenty-six are at medium [-4] and just one, Pike, is at high.

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 77.59 per 100,000 people (up from 65.89 last week) and 5.6 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (down from 7), with 3.6% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (down from 6.2%).

Mount Nittany Medical Center had 8 COVID-19 inpatients as of the hospital’s inpatient dashboard update on Friday. One is intensive care and none are on ventilators. The patients range in age from 32 to 95. For the week of Jan. 21-27, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 9.4 down from 12.7 last week.

The county added 126 reported new cases in the last week, 19 more than the previous seven days, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 18, up from 15.3.

A total of 43,433 COVID-19 cases (38,766 confirmed and 4,667 probable) have been reported among Centre County residents since March 2020.

STATEWIDE

Pennsylvania registered 10,940 reported new positives over the last week, 105 fewer than the previous week’s new cases. The rolling seven-day average of 1,563 new cases is down from 1,578 the prior week.

The commonwealth’s case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,469,076.

According to the DOH data, 1,258 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide as of Wednesday, 89 fewer than a week earlier, with 162 in intensive care [-29] and 80 on ventilators [-4].

DEATHS
DOH recorded four new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 390.

With 236 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 49,633.

POSITIVITY RATE
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Jan. 18-24 was 12.6%, up from 12.2% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 37th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

The statewide positivity rate was 13%, up from 12.8% the prior week.

VACCINATIONS
As of Wednesday morning, 102,570 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 96 since Jan. 18, and 13,118 are partially covered [-11]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 29,575 county residents [+321].

Among the county’s entire population, 75.1% have received at least one dose and 63.7% have completed the primary vaccine series, while 19.8% of eligible residents (age 5 and older) have received the bivalent booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 79.9% have received at least one dose, 67.5% have completed the primary series and 21% have received the bivalent booster booster.

Statewide, 82.6% of adults and 73.2% of the total population have completed the primary series, while the bivalent booster has been administered to 20.7% of adults and 18.3% of all residents age 5 and older.

Vaccination appointments are available through pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov. A CDC analysis released on Wednesday found that current boosters helped prevent symptomatic infections from the new XBB subvariants that emerged in the fall. The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, nicknamed “Kraken,” is now the most transmissible and likely dominant variant in the United States, accounting for 61.3% of COVID cases this week.

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): 10,441 confirmed [+31], 1,413 probable

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,634 confirmed [+19], 658 probable [+1]

16803 (State College): 4,485 confirmed [+13], 868 probable [+1]

16866 (Philipsburg): 2,778 confirmed [+10], 358 probable [+3]

16802 (University Park): 2,102 confirmed [+11], 314 probable

16870 (Port Matilda): 1,693 confirmed [+4], 222 probable [+1]

16841 (Howard): 1,332 confirmed [+3], 116 probable

16827 (Boalsburg): 1,029 confirmed [+3], 129 probable

16828 (Centre Hall): 1,018 confirmed [+7], 101 probable

16875 (Spring Mills): 807 confirmed [+1], 85 probable

16844 (Julian): 658 confirmed [+3], 57 probable

16845 (Karthaus): 569 confirmed [+3], 32 probable

16853 (Milesburg): 358 confirmed, 20 probable

16874 (Snow Shoe): 348 confirmed [+2], 40 probable

16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 345 confirmed, 32 probable

16826 (Blanchard): 301 confirmed [+1], 18 probable

16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 290 confirmed, 30 probable

16851 (Lemont): 228 confirmed [+3], 34 probable

16820 (Aaronsburg): 224 confirmed [+1], 28 probable

16829 (Clarence): 221 confirmed [+1], 26 probable [+1]

16854 (Millheim): 210 confirmed [+2], 18 probable

16872 (Rebersburg): 196 confirmed [+1], 17 probable

16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 133 confirmed, 14 probable [+1]

16859 (Moshannon): 127 confirmed, 6 probable

16677 (Sandy Ridge): 112 confirmed, 6 probable

16832 (Coburn): 107 confirmed, 11 probable

16835 (Fleming): 73 confirmed, 7 probable

16852 (Madisonburg): 61 confirmed, 5 probable

16856 (Mingoville): 58 confirmed, 12 probable

16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed

16804 (State College): 24 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed

16863 (Orviston): 23 confirmed

16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed

CASES AMONG CENTRE COUNTY’S BORDERING COUNTIES

Blair: 34,706 [+73] Low Community Level

Clearfield: 23,978 [+84] Low Community Level

Mifflin: 14,933 [+47] Medium Community Level

Huntingdon: 13,694 [+30] Medium Community Level

Union: 13,406 [+22] Low Community Level

Clinton: 11,011 [+34] Medium Community Level