Centre County Returns to Low COVID-19 Community Level

Centre County moved back to the to the low community level for COVID-19 after spending the last two weeks at the high and medium levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday evening.

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.

The county had spent 12 weeks at the low community level before moving to high two weeks ago then down to medium last week. At the high level ,universal masking in places open to the public is recommended and at the medium level indoor masking is recommended for those at high risk of severe illness.

Statewide, 40 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are at the low level, 13 more than last week. Nineteen are at the medium level [-4] and eight are at the high level [-9].

Community levels measure new cases and new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 people over seven days, along with the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. 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.

Centre County had a case rate of 168.73 and 7.4 new COVID admissions per 100,000 people over the last week, with 6.3% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients, all down from a week ago.

Mount Nittany Medical Center saw an overall decline in COVID-19 inpatients over the last week, but had 10 on Thursday, up from seven on Wednesday. None are intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 24 to 86. Five are vaccinated and five are not, according to hospital’s COVID inpatient dashboard.

Over the last seven days, Mount Nittany has had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 6.6, down from 16 the previous week.

As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,213 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, a decrease of 116 from a week ago, with 133 in intensive care and 51 on ventilators.

Centre County added 274 total new cases over the last week, according to DOH, a 22% decrease from new cases recorded the previous seven days. The county’s seven-day rolling average for new cases is 39.1, down from 50.1 a week ago.

The county has had a total of 37,355 COVID-19 cases (33,130 confirmed and 4,225 probable) since March 2020.

Pennsylvania registered 22,564 new positives over the last week, a 10% decrease from the prior week.

The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 2,954,750.

Deaths

DOH reported four new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total at 359.

With 159 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 45,413.

Positivity rate

Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of June 1-7 was 14.8%, down slightly from 18.8% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was the 24th highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

The statewide positivity rate was 14.1%, down from 15.9% the previous seven days.

Vaccinations

As of Wednesday morning, 96,307 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 220 since June 1, and 14,350 are partially covered [-65]. First booster doses have been administered to 52,024 county residents [+305] and 8,839 have received a second booster [+676].

Among the county’s entire population, 71% have received at least one dose, 60.4% are fully vaccinated and 52.8% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 76.4% have received at least one dose, 64.6% are fully vaccinated and 55.2% have received a booster.

Statewide, 78.8% of adults and 69.2% 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. 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: Numbers in brackets reflect changes since June 1, when DOH last updated zip code data. 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): 9,147 confirmed [+68], 1,308 probable [+9]

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 6,483 confirmed [+25], 584 probable [+1]

16803 (State College): 3,638 confirmed [+58], 753 probable [+1]

16866 (Philipsburg): 2,184 confirmed [+24], 303 probable [+1]

16802 (University Park): 1,898 confirmed [+2], 307 probable

16870 (Port Matilda): 1,398 confirmed [+17], 187 probable [+2]

16841 (Howard): 1,135 confirmed [+4], 100 probable

16828 (Centre Hall): 868 confirmed [+11], 82 probable

16827 (Boalsburg): 837 confirmed [+13], 108 probable [+1]

16875 (Spring Mills): 687 confirmed [+11], 77 probable

16844 (Julian): 554 confirmed [+4], 53 probable

16845 (Karthaus): 523 confirmed [+1], 35 probable

16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 311 confirmed [+1], 30 probable

16853 (Milesburg): 293 confirmed [+2], 20 probable

16874 (Snow Shoe): 286 confirmed [+2], 39 probable

16826 (Blanchard): 255 confirmed, 16 probable

16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 244 confirmed [+1], 25 probable [+2]

16820 (Aaronsburg): 199 confirmed [+2], 27 probable

16854 (Millheim): 188 confirmed, 17 probable [+1]

16829 (Clarence): 186 confirmed [+1], 25 probable

16872 (Rebersburg): 177 confirmed [+2], 16 probable

16851 (Lemont): 172 confirmed [+3], 30 probable

16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 109 confirmed, 12 probable

16859 (Moshannon): 100 confirmed, 6 probable

16832 (Coburn): 93 confirmed, 10 probable

16677 (Sandy Ridge): 87 confirmed [+1], 5 probable

16835 (Fleming): 60 confirmed, 8 probable

16856 (Mingoville): 53 confirmed [+1], 10 probable

16852 (Madisonburg): 53 confirmed, 5 probable

16882 (Woodward): 40 confirmed, 5 confirmed

16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed

16804 (State College): 21 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed

16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed

Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties 
[Changes in brackets are since May 25]

Blair: 30,611 [+144]

Clearfield: 20,108 [+135]

Mifflin: 12,555 [+66]

Union: 12,076 [+55]

Huntingdon: 11,836 [+49]

Clinton: 9,465 [+55]