Centre County saw an uptick in cases but remained at the low community level for COVID-19 for the second consecutive week, according to the Centers for Disease Control update on Thursday night.
Statewide, more counties moved to the low level as overall cases and hospitalizations declined. Twenty of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are at the low level, five more than last week. Thirty-seven are at the medium level [-3] and 10 are at the high level [-2], including neighboring Mifflin County.
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.
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 190.29 per 100,000 people, up from 161.96 last week, and 8.1 new COVID admissions per 100,000, down from 8.8, with 4.7% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients, down from 6.4%.
Mount Nittany Medical Center had 15 COVID-19 inpatients on Friday, according to its inpatient dashboard, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 21 to 79. For the week of Aug. 27-Sept. 2, Mount Nittany has had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 15, up slightly from 13.8 a week earlier.
As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,185 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, 104 fewer than a week ago, with 139 in intensive care [+7] and 51 on ventilators.
Centre County added 309 reported new cases in the last week, a 15% increase over the previous seven days, according to DOH data.
The county has had a total of 40,128 COVID-19 cases (35,681 confirmed and 4,447 probable) since March 2020.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases is 44, up from 38.
Pennsylvania registered 18,264 reported new positives over the last week, a 10% decrease from a week ago. The rolling seven-day average of 2609 is down from 2,880 the prior week.
The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,185,902.
Deaths
DOH recorded one new death attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 368.
With 120 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 46,716.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Aug. 24-30 was 21.96%, up from 19.6%% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was tied for 12th highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 16.2%, down from 16.3% the prior week.
Vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 97,554 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 95 since Aug. 24, and 15,343 are partially covered [+46]. First booster doses have been administered to 54,205 county residents [+124] and 12,790 12,926 have received a second booster [+136].
Among the county’s entire population, 72.6% have received at least one dose, 61.2% are fully vaccinated and 54.5% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 77.5% have received at least one dose, 65.4% are fully vaccinated and 56.3% have received a booster.
Statewide, 80% of adults and 70.5% of the total population are fully vaccinated, while at least one booster dose has been administered to 47.1% of adults and 44.6% of the total population.
Vaccination appointments are available through pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.
Pennsylvania Department of Health officials said on Friday that vaccine providers across the state are prepared to begin administering updated COVID-19 booster vaccines as soon as they receive them. The vaccines, which provide additional protection against the original coronavirus and Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, were recently approved by the CDC after receiving emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.
The new Pfizer vaccine is available to individuals 12 years of age and older, while the new Moderna booster shot is available to people 18 years of age and older. 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.
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): 9,746 confirmed [+47], 1,366 probable [+4]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,012 confirmed [+57], 621 probable [+5]
16803 (State College): 4,053 confirmed [+46], 817 probable [+7]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,404 confirmed [+15], 320 probable [+2]
16802 (University Park): 1,970 confirmed [+29], 311 probable [+1]
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,545 confirmed [+19], 199 probable [+2]
16841 (Howard): 1,216 confirmed [+8], 107 probable [-1]
16827 (Boalsburg): 938 confirmed [+7], 116 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 935 confirmed [+8], 93 probable [+3]
16875 (Spring Mills): 735 confirmed [+7], 81 probable
16844 (Julian): 593 confirmed [+7], 58 probable [+2]
16845 (Karthaus): 536 confirmed, 33 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 327 confirmed [+1], 30 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 321 confirmed [+5], 20 probable [-1]
16874 (Snow Shoe): 307 confirmed, 41 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 277 confirmed [+3], 16 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 262 confirmed [+1], 28 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 206 confirmed [+1], 29 probable
16829 (Clarence): 201 confirmed [+1], 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 199 confirmed, 18 probable
16851 (Lemont): 194 confirmed [+2], 29 probable [+1]
16872 (Rebersburg): 188 confirmed [+2], 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 123 confirmed [+3], 13 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 110 confirmed [+3], 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 100 confirmed [+1], 6 probable [+1]
16832 (Coburn): 96 confirmed [+2], 10 probable
16835 (Fleming): 67 confirmed [+1], 8 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 56 confirmed, 5 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 54 confirmed, 11 probable [+1]
16882 (Woodward): 46 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
Blair: 32,473 [+222] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 21,710 [+151] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 13,532 [+95] High Community Level
Union: 12,656 [+33] Medium Community Level
Huntingdon: 12,605 [+84] Medium Community Level
Clinton: 10,088 [+48] Medium Community Level
