Centre County remained at the low community level for COVID-19 for the 10th consecutive week as new cases of the virus declined, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Friday.
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.
Statewide, more than two-thirds of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are at the low level. Forty-three are at low, four more than last week, while 23 are at medium [-4] and just one—Mercer — is at the high level.
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 64.66 per 100,000 people (down from 80.67 last week) and 6.7 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (down from 8.1), with 5.2% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (up from 4.5%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had 13 COVID-19 inpatients on Friday, according to its inpatient dashboard, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 22 to 99. For the week of Nov. 19-25, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 13, up from 11.4 last week.
As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,129 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, eight fewer than a week ago, with 144 in intensive care [+7] and 54 on ventilators [-7].
Centre County added 105 reported new cases in the last week, 26 fewer than the previous seven days, according to DOH data.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases is 15, down from 18.7.
The county has had a total of 42,260 COVID-19 cases (37,663 confirmed and 4,597 probable) since March 2020.
Pennsylvania registered 10,052 reported new positives over the last week, a 1% increase from new cases a week ago. The rolling seven-day average of 1,436 is up from 1,422 the prior week.
The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,350,067.
Deaths
DOH recorded no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, keeping the total at 379.
With 145 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 48,271.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Nov. 16-22 was 8.9%, up from 8% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 36th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 9.2%, down from 9.3% the prior week.
Vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 101,336 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 266 since Nov. 16, and 13,511 are partially covered [-114]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 23,298 county residents [+1,598].
Among the county’s entire population, 74.4% have received at least one dose, 63.1% have completed the primary vaccine series and 55.9% have received at least one booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 79.2% have received at least one dose, 67% have completed the primary series and 57.8% have received a booster.
Statewide, 81.8% of adults and 72.5% of the total population have completed the primary series, while at least one booster dose has been administered to 49% of adults and 46.5% of the total population.
Vaccination appointments are available through pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.
Vaccine providers are now administering updated COVID-19 booster vaccines, which provide additional protection against the original coronavirus and Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
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. Pfizer boosters are now available for ages 5 and older and Moderna boosters are available for ages 6 and older.
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): 10,180 confirmed [+20], 1,397 probable [+3]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,407 confirmed [+22], 651 probable [+3]
16803 (State College): 4,337 confirmed [+13], 855 probable [+1]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,611 confirmed [+9], 336 probable [+2]
16802 (University Park): 2,070 confirmed, 314 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,647 confirmed [+8], 213 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,288 confirmed [+2], 112 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 1,000 confirmed [+2], 126 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 982 confirmed [+3], 98 probable [+1]
16875 (Spring Mills): 787 confirmed [+3], 83 probable
16844 (Julian): 634 confirmed [+3], 58 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 560 confirmed, 32 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 344 confirmed [+1], 20 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 338 confirmed, 32 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 326 confirmed, 41 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 291 confirmed [+1],17 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 279 confirmed [+2], 29 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 216 confirmed [+1], 29 probable
16851 (Lemont): 209 confirmed [+1], 33 probable
16829 (Clarence): 209 confirmed [+1], 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 208 confirmed, 18 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 193 confirmed [+2], 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 127 confirmed [+1], 13 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 119 confirmed, 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 111 confirmed [+2], 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 105 confirmed, 11 probable
16835 (Fleming): 71 confirmed, 7 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 57 confirmed, 12 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 57 confirmed, 5 probable
16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16804 (State College): 23 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties
Blair: 33,917 [+53] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 23,088 [+59] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 14,412 [+39] Medium Community Level
Union: 13,108 [+25] Medium Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,282 [+38] Medium Community Level
Clinton: 10,672 [+30] Medium Community Level
