New COVID-19 Cases in Centre County and Pennsylvania Highest in Nearly 3 Months

New COVID-19 cases in Centre County and throughout Pennsylvania continued to rise over the past seven days, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s weekly update on Wednesday.

Centre County added 280 cases during that time, a 52% increase over the prior week’s new cases. The county’s seven-day rolling average of 40 is its highest since Feb. 20.

The new cases bring the county’s total to 36,016 (31,893 confirmed and 4,123 probable) since March 2020.

Pennsylvania recorded 21,781 new positives over the last week, a 46% increase from the prior week. The commonwealth’s seven-day average of 3,111 is more than three times higher than a month ago and the highest since Feb. 15.

The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 2,849,663.

Hospitalizations

Mount Nittany Medical Center has three COVID-19 inpatients, nine fewer than a week ago, with one in intensive care and one on a ventilator. One patient is vaccinated and two are not vaccinated, according to the hospital’s COVID-19 inpatient dashboard.

The medical center has averaged about seven COVID inpatients a day since last Wednesday.

Statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to rise, but at a slower rate than a week earlier. According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, 907 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in Pennsylvania, 149 more than a week ago, with 96 in intensive care [+15] and 36 on ventilators [no change].

Deaths

DOH reported two new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents over the last week, bringing the total to 351.

With 81 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 44,814.

Positivity rate

Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of May 4-10 was 11.3%, up from 9% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 28th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

The statewide positivity rate was 13.9%, up from 10.7% the previous seven days.

Community level

Centre County remains at the “low” community level for COVID-19 for the ninth consecutive week, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest weekly update on May 5.

Community levels measure new cases, new hospitalizations and local hospital capacity to determine mitigation guidelines. At the low level, there is no recommendation for indoor masking.

Statewide, 56 of 67 counties are at the low level, eight fewer than last week as new cases and hospitalizations continue to rise. Bradford, Montour, Sullivan and Susquehanna are at the high level, while Lackawanna, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Snyder, Union, Wayne and Wyoming are at the medium level.

At the medium level, the CDC recommends masks indoors in public for those at risk of severe illness. At the high level, universal indoor public masking is recommended.

Prison cases

Centre County’s two state prisons — Benner and Rockview — have no COVID-19 cases among inmates or staff, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

At Benner, 1,429 inmates are fully vaccinated, 27 are partially vaccinated and 223 are not vaccinated. Among staff, 303 are fully vaccinated [-1] and 326 are not vaccinated [+1].

At Rockview, 1,662inmates are fully vaccinated, two are partially vaccinated and 80 are not vaccinated. Among staff, 350 are fully vaccinated and 366 are not vaccinated [-1].

Vaccinations

As of Wednesday morning, 95,686 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 165 since May 4, and 14,236 are partially covered [+18]. First booster doses have been administered to 50,931 county residents [+175] and 5,841 have received a second booster [+759].

Among the county’s entire population, 70.5% have received at least one dose, 60% are fully vaccinated and 52.1% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 75.9% have received at least one dose, 64.1% are fully vaccinated and 54.7% have received a booster.

Statewide, 78.1% of adults and 68.6% 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 May 4, 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): 8,823 confirmed [+64], 1,271 probable [+23]

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 6,299 confirmed [+23], 576 probable [+1]

16803 (State College): 3,388 confirmed [+58], 729 probable [+25]

16866 (Philipsburg): 2,119 confirmed [+8], 300 probable [+2]

16802 (University Park): 1,882 confirmed [+10], 304 probable

16870 (Port Matilda): 1,322 confirmed [+10], 173 probable [+1]

16841 (Howard): 1,098 confirmed [+3], 100 probable

16828 (Centre Hall): 808 confirmed [+6], 82 probable [-1]

16827 (Boalsburg): 765 confirmed [+11], 105 probable [+2]

16875 (Spring Mills): 656 confirmed [+3], 75 probable [+1]

16844 (Julian): 546 confirmed [+1], 53 probable

16845 (Karthaus): 521 confirmed, 35 probable

16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 302 confirmed, 29 probable

16853 (Milesburg): 287 confirmed, 20 probable

16874 (Snow Shoe): 281 confirmed [+1], 38 probable

16826 (Blanchard): 249 confirmed, 16 probable

16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 240 confirmed [+3], 22 probable [-2]

16820 (Aaronsburg): 196 confirmed [+1], 27 probable [+1]

16829 (Clarence): 183 confirmed, 25 probable

16854 (Millheim): 183 confirmed, 16 probable

16872 (Rebersburg): 170 confirmed, 16 probable

16851 (Lemont): 163 confirmed [+1], 30 probable

16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 106 confirmed [+3], 11 probable

16859 (Moshannon): 99 confirmed, 6 probable

16832 (Coburn): 91 confirmed, 9 probable

16677 (Sandy Ridge): 82 confirmed, 5 probable

16835 (Fleming): 60 confirmed, 8 probable

16856 (Mingoville): 51 confirmed, 10 probable

16852 (Madisonburg): 51 confirmed [+1], 5 probable

16882 (Woodward): 40 confirmed, 5 confirmed

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

16863 (Orviston): 20 confirmed

16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed

Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties 
[Changes in brackets are since May 4]

Blair: 29,924 [+117]

Clearfield: 19,533 [+95]

Mifflin: 12,348 [+20]

Union: 11,842 [+45]

Huntingdon: 11,594 [+26]

Clinton: 9,157 [+61]