Centre County moved to the medium COVID-19 community level after spending the last five weeks at the low level, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.
Reported new cases in the county declined, but new hospitalizations linked to the virus rose just past the threshold for the medium level.
At the medium level, the CDC recommends that individuals at high risk for severe illness consider wearing a mask indoors in public and taking additional precautions such as staying 6 feet away from others, avoiding crowded and poorly ventilated spaces. Anyone who has symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should also wear a mask, according to the CDC. Masks should be worn on public transportation, as well.
Centre is among 36 counties at the medium level, eight more than last week. Thirty are at low [-9] and one — Sullivan — is at high [+1].
HOSPITALIZATIONS AND CASES
For a county that has fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 people in a week, to be at the medium level requires between 10 and 19.9 COVID hospital admissions per 100,000 and/or a seven-day average of 10-14.9% of hospital beds occupied by COVID inpatients.
Centre County had a case rate of 85.6 per 100,000 people (down from 94.84 last week) and 10.5 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (up from 7), with 4.8% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (up from 4.5%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had seven COVID-19 inpatients as of the hospital’s inpatient dashboard update on Friday. None are in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 58 to 86. For the week of Feb. 18-24, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 11.7, up from 9.7 last week.
The county added 139 reported new cases in the last week, 15 fewer than the previous seven days, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 19.8, down from 22.
A total of 43,971 COVID-19 cases (39,249 confirmed and 4,722 probable) have been reported among Centre County residents since March 2020.
STATEWIDE
Pennsylvania registered 10,425 reported new positives over the last week, 788 fewer than the previous week’s new cases. The rolling seven-day average of 1,489 new cases is down from 1,602 the prior week.
The commonwealth’s case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,512,137.
According to the DOH data, 1,135 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide as of Wednesday, 17 fewer than a week earlier, with 129 in intensive care [+19] and 50 on ventilators [+3].
DEATHS
DOH recorded one new death attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 396.
With 113 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 50,168.
POSITIVITY RATE
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Feb. 15-21 was 13.3% down from 13.5%, the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was tied for 24th highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 11.8%, down from 12.2% the prior week.
VACCINATIONS
As of Wednesday morning, 102,868 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 49 since Feb. 15, and 13,061 are partially covered [+7]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 30,425 county residents [+158].
Among the county’s entire population, 75.3% have received at least one dose and 63.9% have completed the primary vaccine series, while 20.3% of eligible residents (age 5 and older) have received the bivalent booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 80% have received at least one dose, 67.7% have completed the primary series and 21.6% have received the bivalent booster booster.
Statewide, 82.8% of adults and 73.4% of the total population have completed the primary series, while the bivalent booster has been administered to 21.5% of adults and 19% of all residents age 5 and older.
Vaccination appointments are available through pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.
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): 10,566 confirmed [+33], 1,429 probable [+2]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,756 confirmed [+31], 666 probable [+2]
16803 (State College): 4,550 confirmed [+16], 877 probable [+6]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,818 confirmed [+3], 355 probable
16802 (University Park): 2,120 confirmed [+5], 316 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,709 confirmed [+1], 229 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,340 confirmed [+4], 116 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 1,045 confirmed [+5], 136 probable [+2]
16828 (Centre Hall): 1,034 confirmed [+5], 102 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 821 confirmed [+5], 89 probable
16844 (Julian): 666 confirmed [+2], 57 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 570 confirmed, 33 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 366 confirmed [+3], 20 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 355 confirmed [+2], 41 probable [+1]
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 352 confirmed [+2], 34 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 306 confirmed, 18 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 292 confirmed, 30 probable
16851 (Lemont): 229 confirmed [+1], 34 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 224 confirmed, 28 probable
16829 (Clarence): 223 confirmed, 26 probable
16854 (Millheim): 212 confirmed [+1], 19 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 198 confirmed, 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 133 confirmed, 15 probable [+1]
16859 (Moshannon): 130 confirmed [+3], 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 114 confirmed [+1], 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 109 confirmed [+1], 12 probable
16835 (Fleming): 73 confirmed, 7 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 61 confirmed, 5 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 58 confirmed, 12 probable
16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16804 (State College): 24 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 23 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
CASES AMONG CENTRE COUNTY’S BORDERING COUNTIES
Blair: 35,044 [+142] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 24,298 [+84] Medium Community Level
Mifflin: 15,100 [+47] Low Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,829 [+39] Low Community Level
Union: 13,513 [+31] Medium Community Level
Clinton: 11,108 [+40] Medium Community Level
