Centre County stayed at the low community level for COVID-19 for the fourth consecutive week, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.
Statewide, 62 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties were at the low level, two more than last week, and five were at medium [-2]. It marked the second consecutive week that none of the commonwealth’s counties were at the high level. Reported new cases statewide fell for the fourth 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 58.5 per 100,000 people (up from 54.81 last week) and six new COVID admissions per 100,000 (down from 7.4), with 3.1% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (down from 4.6%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had nine 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 27 to 95. For the week of March 18-24, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 8.1, down from 8.6 last week.
The county added 95 reported new cases in the last week, six more than the previous seven days, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 13.6 up from 12.7.
A total of 44,404 COVID-19 cases (39,646 confirmed and 4,758 probable) have been reported among Centre County residents since March 2020.
STATEWIDE
Pennsylvania registered 5,198 reported new positives over the last week, 885 fewer than the previous week’s new cases. The rolling seven-day average of 742 new cases is down from 869 the prior week.
The commonwealth’s case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,539,135.
Hospitalizations linked to the virus declined for the 11th consecutive week. According to the DOH data, 671 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide as of Wednesday, 76 fewer than a week earlier, with 91 in intensive care [-6] and 52 on ventilators [+8].
DEATHS
DOH recorded one new death attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 400.
With 106 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 50,623.
POSITIVITY RATE
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of March 15-21 was 9.9% down from 11.6%, the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was the 11th highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 7%, down from 8% the prior week.
VACCINATIONS
As of Wednesday morning, 103,015 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 49 since March 15, and 13,052 are partially covered [-12]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 30,842 county residents [+113].
Among the county’s entire population, 75.4% have received at least one dose and 64% have completed the primary vaccine series, while 19.8% have received the bivalent booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 80.1% 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 73.5% of the total population have completed the primary series, while the bivalent booster has been administered to 21.8% 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): 10,647 confirmed [+19], 1,438 probable [+1]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,889 confirmed [+20], 671 probable [+1]
16803 (State College): 4,596 confirmed [+14], 883 probable
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,868 confirmed [+13], 364 probable [+2]
16802 (University Park): 2,130 confirmed [+4], 318 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,719 confirmed [+1], 231 probable [+3]
16841 (Howard): 1,351 confirmed [+3], 115 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 1,056 confirmed [+4], 138 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 1,040 confirmed, 103 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 827 confirmed [+3], 90 probable
16844 (Julian): 667 confirmed, 57 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 572 confirmed, 33 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 376 confirmed [+4], 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 [+3], 30 probable
16851 (Lemont): 232 confirmed, 34 probable
16829 (Clarence): 226 confirmed, 26 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 225 confirmed [+1], 28 probable
16854 (Millheim): 212 confirmed, 20 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 201 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 [+1], 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: 35,302 [+46] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 24,536 [+54] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 15,226 [+25] Low Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,921 [+18] Low Community Level
Union: 13,597 [+19] Low Community Level
Clinton: 11,238 [+21] Low Community Level
