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Centre Stays at Low COVID-19 Community Level; No Pa. Counties at High

Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 community levels in Pennsylvania as of March 17, 2023. Image via Centers for Disease Control.

Geoff Rushton

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Centre County remained at the low community level for COVID-19 for the third consecutive week, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.

The county is one of 60 Pennsylvania counties at the low level, 13 more than last week. Seven are at medium [-11] and none are at high [-2].

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 54.81 per 100,000 people (down from 76.36 last week) and 7.4 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (up from 6.7), with 4.6% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (down from 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 47 to 85. For the week of March 10-16, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 8.6, down from 9.1 last week.

The county added 89 reported new cases in the last week, 35 fewer than the previous seven days, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 12.7, down from 17.7.

A total of 44,309 COVID-19 cases (39,557 confirmed and 4,752 probable) have been reported among Centre County residents since March 2020.

STATEWIDE

Pennsylvania registered 6,083 reported new positives over the last week, 958 fewer than the previous week’s new cases. The rolling seven-day average of 869 new cases is down from 1,005 the prior week.

The commonwealth’s case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,533,937.

According to the DOH data, 747 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide as of Wednesday, 125 fewer than a week earlier, with 97 in intensive care [-1] and 44 on ventilators [+5].

DEATHS
DOH recorded two new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 399.

With 119 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 50,517.

Pennsylvania and Centre County COVID-19 dashboard for March 15, 2023. Image via Pennsylvania Department of Health.

POSITIVITY RATE
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of March 8-14 was 11.6% down from 12.3%, the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was tied for 14th highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

The statewide positivity rate was 8%, down from 8.7% the prior week.

VACCINATIONS
As of Wednesday morning, 102,966 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 14 since March 8, and 13,053 are partially covered [-2]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 30,729 county residents [+56].

Among the county’s entire population, 75.3% have received at least one dose and 63.9% have completed the primary vaccine series, while 20.5% of eligible residents (age 5 and older) 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 21.8% 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 19.3% 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): 10,628 confirmed [+15], 1,437 probable [+3]

16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,869 confirmed [+32], 670 probable [+2]

16803 (State College): 4,582 confirmed [+7], 883 probable [+1]

16866 (Philipsburg): 2,855 confirmed [+6], 362 probable [+5]

16802 (University Park): 2,126 confirmed, 318 probable [+1]

16870 (Port Matilda): 1,718 confirmed [+5], 228 probable [-1]

16841 (Howard): 1,348 confirmed [+5], 115 probable [-1]

16827 (Boalsburg): 1,052 confirmed [+1], 138 probable

16828 (Centre Hall): 1,040 confirmed [+2], 103 probable [+1]

16875 (Spring Mills): 824 confirmed [+1], 90 probable

16844 (Julian): 667 confirmed, 57 probable

16845 (Karthaus): 572 confirmed [+2], 33 probable

16853 (Milesburg): 372 confirmed [+1], 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): 296 confirmed [+2], 30 probable

16851 (Lemont): 232 confirmed [+2], 34 probable

16829 (Clarence): 226 confirmed, 26 probable

16820 (Aaronsburg): 224 confirmed, 28 probable

16854 (Millheim): 212 confirmed, 20 probable

16872 (Rebersburg): 200 confirmed [+1], 17 probable

16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 133 confirmed, 15 probable

16859 (Moshannon): 132 confirmed [+2], 6 probable

16677 (Sandy Ridge): 115 confirmed, 6 probable

16832 (Coburn): 110 confirmed [+1], 12 probable

16835 (Fleming): 74 confirmed [+1], 7 probable

16852 (Madisonburg): 64 confirmed, 6 probable

16856 (Mingoville): 58 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: 35,256 [+57] Low Community Level

Clearfield: 24,482 [+57] Low Community Level

Mifflin: 15,201 [+35] Low Community Level

Huntingdon: 13,903 [+16] Low Community Level

Union: 13,578 [+15] Low Community Level

Clinton: 11,217 [+34] Medium Community Level