Visiting Centre County on Wednesday, Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of Health Keara Klinepeter encouraged residents to continue to get tested for COVID-19, a “core public health strategy” as the commonwealth nears what officials hope will be the peak in the current surge of the virus fueled by the omicron variant.
Klinepeter stopped by the free testing site currently located at the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority’s Interpretive Center, 253 Transfer Road, where the number of people getting tested per day has leveled off after swelling in late December and early January.
“Testing is the best way to identify whether you are infected with the virus,” Klinepeter said. “It is imperative to quarantine and isolate if you test positive for COVID-19 so that we can stop the spread of all variants of the virus. Fortunately, testing in Pennsylvania is accessible through pop-up sites like the one here in Centre County, through your healthcare provider, urgent care centers and at pharmacies. If you are exposed to COVID-19 or are experiencing symptoms, please get tested.”
Both at-home rapid antigen tests, which have become more widely available and the results of which are not reported to the health department, and PCR tests offered at places like the free clinic are important tools, Klinepeter said.
“There’s different reasons why we want people to test,” Klinepeter said. “One of them is to track disease prevalence in the community, and when the Department of Health is getting close to or over 100,000 tests a day [as it has in recent weeks] we have a good understanding of what the disease prevalence is in the community. What we really want people to use the at-home tests for is when they are feeling symptomatic or when they have been exposed. We want them to be able to know quickly if they actually are positive so they can take the appropriate public health action and then isolate at home.”
Every household in the United States can now request four free at-home tests through covidtests.gov.
She added that DOH recommends schools take advantage of free testing resources offered by the state, as well.
“The Department of Health is recommending that folks follow the CDC guidance, which does include testing as a core strategy to be used,” she said. “The Department of Health actually offers a free testing resource to all schools across the commonwealth and we strongly encourage schools to use that testing resource to keep students and teachers safe.”
Testing and positives have surged throughout Pennsylvania as the more transmissible omicron variant has spread. In the past few days, however, the number of new cases statewide has declined. On Wednesday, the commonwealth had fewer than 20,000 cases for a third consecutive day and a seven-day moving average of 22,551, down from 28,685 a week ago.
Centre County’s seven-day average on Wednesday was 251, down from 291 a week ago.
Klinepeter said the commonwealth appears to be at or nearing a peak, but it is still too soon to tell and that hospitalizations peak after new cases have crested.
“We have seen a sustained increase in the last six to eight weeks. That spike has been particularly noticeable since the holidays,” she said. “We have seen a slight decrease in the seven-day moving average but it’s too soon to tell if we’re truly at a peak. I think we’re probably getting close to the peak if we’re not at it yet, but I think there’s still a lot of work to be done because there is a two-week lag between case counts peaking and hospitalizations peaking and then deaths peaking after that. So even if we are at the peak by way of case counts, there’s still a lot of work to do.”
With 75% of Pennsylvania adults fully vaccinated and 38.8% having received booster doses, Klinepeter said DOH’s emphasis now is on encouraging those who haven’t done so already to get a booster, which health experts have said offers the most protection against serious illness from COVID-19.
“That’s really where our focus is right now, encouraging those folks who are eligible for a booster to get it today,” she said. “I can’t stress that enough. If you are eligible to be boosted, go get your booster shot today.
The COVID-19 testing site in Centre County, meanwhile, is currently scheduled to continue operating 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays until Jan. 29 — but Klinepeter expects it will be extended further. It is one of nine testing sites operated by DOH in partnership with AMI Expeditionary Healthcare.
“We continue to evaluate every two weeks our testing sites so we ensure we’re putting them in the parts of the commonwealth that have the greatest need,” she said. “That is really a data-driven decision but based on case counts that we’re seeing and demand that we’re seeing at this site, I do anticipate that we’ll extend that for longer.”
In late December and early January, the Centre County site saw long lines of people as testing reached and even exceeded the capacity of 450 per day, AMI program manager Rob Kovacic said.
Over the past several days, that has dropped to about 100 to 150 per day.
AMI has operated a free testing site in Centre County dating back to September 2020, both through contracts with the county (funded by an allocation from the federal CARES Act) and with the Department of Health, which has funded the clinic since April 2021.
“The Centre County Board of Commissioners is grateful for the ongoing COVID-19 testing resource provided by the Department of Health and AMI here in Centre County,” Board of Commissioners Chairman Michael Pipe, who with fellow commissioner Steve Dershem and Mark Higgins joined Klinepeter for the visit, said in a statement. “Testing is a critical component of our collective efforts to identify and stop the spread of this virus. Through this partnership, readily accessible and vital testing has been made available to our citizens and we are truly appreciative of this support.”
The site has made a number of moves, including a previous stint at the recycling center, as well as at the Nittany Mall, the Patton Township Municipal Building, the former Comcast building on Benner Pike and the former Sears Auto Center on Shiloh Road.
“I think it’s a really creative one,” Klinepeter said of the current site. “This is the third AMI site that I’ve been at. It’s the first walk-in site I’ve been to and it’s definitely the first recycling center we’ve been at. Just talking with some of the community members here today, it sounds like this is really a place that’s convenient for the community and that’s what’s most important.”
Kovacic said the recycling center has been a good fit for the 12-person AMI team’s work.
“It’s a quite comfortable site,” he said. “It provides everything that we like to have in terms of reliable electricity, connectivity, good parking situation. The site flows well. It’s a walk-in only site, unlike some other sites that have drive-through. But it’s convenient in terms of people are able to enter at one part of the building, get processed, get tested and exit out the back side of the building. It’s a good structure, good location, easily accessible from some of the main roads and then it just works well in terms of how people flow through it.”
As for his advice to those thinking they should get tested?
“Come on down,” Kovacic said. “We’re available Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. So come down and get tested and we’ll get you taken care of.”
