Centre County remains at the “low” community level for COVID-19 for the sixth consecutive week, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest weekly update on Thursday.
Though new cases in the county have more than doubled in the last week over the previous week, hospitalizations linked to the virus have remained low.
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.
Statewide, 64 of 67 counties are at the low level for the third straight week, with the other three at the medium level: Bradford, Sullivan and Susquehanna.
Centre County was at the high level for the first week of the new metrics and dropped to the medium level on March 3 before moving to low on March 10. 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.
New Cases
Centre County recorded 25 new COVID-19 cases for the second consecutive day on Thursday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
The new cases bring the county’s total to 35,295 (31,320 confirmed and 3,975 probable), according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Centre County’s seven-day moving average for new cases continues to rise and now stands at 20.1, up from 9.9 a week ago and its highest average since March 3.
Pennsylvania registered 1,641 new cases — its largest single-day increase since Feb. 26 — to bring the statewide total to 2,793,891.
The commonwealth’s seven-day average is 1,024 up from 774 a week ago and the highest since March 7.
Hospitalizations
Mount Nittany Medical Center has four COVID-19 inpatients, unchanged from Wednesday, with none in intensive care or on ventilators, according to the hospital’s COVID inpatient dashboard.
Statewide, COVID-19 hospitalizations in Pennsylvania rose for the third consecutive day. According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, 451 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized across the commonwealth, 12 more than on Wednesday, with 61 in intensive care [+2] and 41 on ventilators [+1].
Deaths
DOH reported no new deaths attributed to the virus, keeping the total at 348.
With 23 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry, the statewide total is now 44,464.
Prison cases
Centre County’s two state prisons — Benner and Rockview — have no COVID-19 cases among inmates, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Benner has one among staff and Rockview has none.
At Benner, 1,402 inmates are fully vaccinated, 20 are partially vaccinated and 192 are not vaccinated. Among staff, 310 are fully vaccinated and 319 are not vaccinated.
At Rockview, 1,711 inmates are fully vaccinated, two are partially vaccinated and 82 are not vaccinated. Among staff, 352 are fully vaccinated and 366 are not vaccinated.
Vaccinations
As of Thursday morning, 95,106 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 30 since Wednesday, and 14,230 are partially covered [+2]. Booster doses have been administered to 50,237 county residents [+39].
Among the county’s entire population, 70.1% have received at least one dose, 59.6% are fully vaccinated and 51.6% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 75.4% have received at least one dose, 63.7% are fully vaccinated and 54.2% have received a booster.
Statewide, 77.5% of adults and 68% 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. All individuals 50 and older and certain immunocompromised individuals are now eligible for a second 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): 8,644 confirmed [+5], 1,212 probable [+2]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 6,229 confirmed [+2], 575 probable
16803 (State College): 3,268 confirmed [+4], 676 probable [+1]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,088 confirmed [+2], 298 probable
16802 (University Park): 1,856 confirmed [+3], 286 probable [+1]
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,296 confirmed [+1], 170 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,088 confirmed, 100 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 791 confirmed [+1], 81 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 745 confirmed [+1], 101 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 651 confirmed, 73 probable
16844 (Julian): 541 confirmed, 52 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 520 confirmed, 35 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 299 confirmed, 29 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 286 confirmed, 20 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 279 confirmed, 38 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 245 confirmed, 16 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 224 confirmed [+1], 22 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 193 confirmed, 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 182 confirmed [+1], 15 probable
16829 (Clarence): 181 confirmed, 25 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 167 confirmed, 16 probable
16851 (Lemont): 159 confirmed, 29 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 100 confirmed, 11 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 98 confirmed, 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 90 confirmed, 9 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 81 confirmed, 5 probable
16835 (Fleming): 59 confirmed, 8 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 51 confirmed, 10 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 49 confirmed, 5 probable
16882 (Woodward): 40 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: 29,684 [+3]
Clearfield: 19,296 [+5]
Mifflin: 12,283 [+2]
Union: 11,697
Huntingdon: 11,508 [+1]
Clinton: 9,040 [+1]
