Penn State reported 87 new COVID-19 positives among students at University Park in Friday’s semi-weekly update.
It was the fewest new cases reported in a university update since Sept. 1. But after last weekend saw multiple large gatherings with little distancing or mask wearing at downtown apartment buildings, Penn State President Eric Barron urged caution as a busy Saturday looms.
“With Halloween and the Ohio State game this weekend, we all must remain committed to mask wearing, social distancing and avoiding large gatherings,’ Barron said in a statement. ‘We absolutely cannot have a repeat of the large gatherings that occurred during last week’s football game. Watch the game with your roommates or your ‘pod’ of friends, stay away from large watch parties and Halloween celebrations and act responsibly.”
The new positives reported in the university’s updated COVID-19 dashboard bring the the campus community’s total to 3,882 since Aug. 7, including 13 employee cases. However, 277 of those are still considered active, with 3,605 having completed isolation and no longer considered active cases.
The campus added 86 new student positives for the week of Oct. 23-29 since the university’s last update on Tuesday, bringing the total for the week to 127.
The total includes 110 positives from 1,089 completed on-demand tests with another 151 still awaiting results. Random screening yielded 17 positives from 2,179 completed tests, with 432 more still pending.
One additional positive also was reported from tests that were previously pending for the week of Oct. 16-22. For that week, there was a total of 236 positives — 215 from 1,855 completed on-demand tests and 21 from 3,079 completed random screening tests.
Weekly results of Penn State student COVID-19 testing as of Oct. 30, 2020.
No new employee cases were reported on Friday.
According to the updated dashboard, 61 students are currently in on-campus isolation and 42 are in on-campus quarantine. University Park has 250 rooms available for isolation, 150 for quarantine and another 140 available if needed. Students may also isolate and quarantine at home or if they have suitable space off-campus residence, according to the university.
The university continues to monitor public health data in Centre County to determine community spread and mitigation strategies, including, among other measures, hospitalizations.
Mount Nittany Medical Center has seen an ongoing increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations. The hospital reported that as of Friday morning it has a record high 17 COVID inpatients, ranging in age from 31 to 92.
Since Oct. 1, Mount Nittany has admitted 47 COVID positive patients, with an average census of 11 COVID positive inpatients per day. In September it had a total of 16 COVID positive patients admitted, with an average census of two COVID positive inpatients per day.
‘In the last three weeks, our COVID positive inpatient census has consistently been in the double digits,’ Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nirmal Joshi said in a statement. ‘A rise in the number of hospitalized patients is concerning.’
Centre County has seen a slowed rate of new COVID-19 cases in October compared to September. Through Friday, the county had a total of 1,471 new positives. In September, there were 2,264, largely corresponding to testing of Penn State students.
For the last week, the county had an incidence rate of 175.1 cases per 100,000 people, sixth highest in the state, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s early warning monitoring dashboard. That is up from 125.3 and ninth highest in the state the prior week.
The county’s positivity rate also saw an increase from 4.9% to 6.1%, 25th in the state and in line with Pennsylvania’s overall positivity rate.
Cases among nursing and personal care homes have grown substantially this month, with 85 new positives among residents in October. Twelve long-term care facilities have now had a combined 100 resident cases and 39 employee cases.
This week the Centre County Coroner’s Office reported three new deaths attributed to COVID-19. On Wednesday, Coroner Scott Sayers reported the deaths of a 77-year-old man and a 62-year-old woman on Tuesday were attributed to the virus. On Friday, he reported the county’s 16th COVID death, an 89-year old woman.
