Centre County remained at the low community level for COVID-19 for the fifth consecutive week as cases locally and statewide continued to fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.
Statewide, 63 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties were at the low level, one more than last week, and four were at medium [-1]. It marked the third consecutive week that none of the commonwealth’s counties were at the high level. Reported new cases statewide fell for the fifth consecutive week and were at their lowest level since the state health department switched to weekly reports last May.
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 38.8 per 100,000 people (down from 58.5 last week) and 8.4 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (up from 6), with 3.1% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (unchanged).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had nine COVID-19 inpatients as of the hospital’s inpatient dashboard update on Friday. One is in intensive care and none are on ventilators. The patients range in age from 27 to 86. For the week of March 25-31, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 9.5, up from 8.1 last week.
The county added 63 reported new cases in the last week, 32 fewer than the previous seven days, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 9, down from 13.6.
A total of 44,467 COVID-19 cases (39,707 confirmed and 4,760 probable) have been reported among Centre County residents since March 2020.
STATEWIDE
Pennsylvania registered 4,790 reported new positives over the last week, 408 fewer than the previous week’s new cases. The rolling seven-day average of 684 new cases is down from 742 the prior week.
The commonwealth’s case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,543,925.
Hospitalizations linked to the virus declined for the 12th consecutive week. According to the DOH data, 610 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide as of Wednesday, 61 fewer than a week earlier, with 79 in intensive care [-12] and 49 on ventilators [-3].
DEATHS
DOH recorded no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, keeping the total at 400.
With 90 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 50,713.
POSITIVITY RATE
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of March 22-28 was 7.6%, down from 9.7% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was the 28th highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 6.6%, down from 7% the prior week.
VACCINATIONS
As of Wednesday morning, 103,068 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 53 since March 22, and 13,058 are partially covered [+6]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 30,954 county residents [+112].
Among the county’s entire population, 75.4% have received at least one dose and 64% have completed the primary vaccine series, while 19.9% have received the bivalent booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 80.2% have received at least one dose, 67.8% have completed the primary series and 21.9% have received the bivalent booster booster.
Statewide, 82.9% of adults and 73.6% of the total population have completed the primary series, while the bivalent booster has been administered to 21.9% of adults and 18.4% of the total population.
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): 10,657 confirmed [+10], 1,437 probable [-1]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,900 confirmed [+11], 671 probable
16803 (State College): 4,606 confirmed [+10], 883 probable
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,878 confirmed [+10], 365 probable [+1]
16802 (University Park): 2,131 confirmed [+1], 318 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,722 confirmed [+3], 231 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,353 confirmed [+2], 115 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 1,060 confirmed [+4], 138 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 1,041 confirmed [+1], 104 probable [+1]
16875 (Spring Mills): 828 confirmed [+1], 90 probable
16844 (Julian): 667 confirmed, 57 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 573 confirmed [+1], 33 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 378 confirmed [+2], 20 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 356 confirmed, 41 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 354 confirmed, 35 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 306 confirmed, 18 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 299 confirmed, 30 probable
16851 (Lemont): 233 confirmed [+1], 34 probable
16829 (Clarence): 226 confirmed, 26 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 225 confirmed, 28 probable
16854 (Millheim): 214 confirmed [+2], 20 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 202 confirmed [+1], 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 133 confirmed, 15 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 132 confirmed, 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 115 confirmed, 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 110 confirmed, 12 probable
16835 (Fleming): 74 confirmed, 7 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 64 confirmed, 6 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 59 confirmed, 12 probable
16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 25 confirmed
16804 (State College): 24 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
CASES AMONG CENTRE COUNTY’S BORDERING COUNTIES
Blair: 35,350 [+48] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 24,591 [+55] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 15,241 [+15] Low Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,932 [+11] Low Community Level
Union: 13,608 [+11] Low Community Level
Clinton: 11,262 [+24] Low Community Level
