Centre County remained at the low community level for COVID-19 for the second consecutive week as new cases declined and hospitalizations plateaued, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s weekly update on Thursday night.
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.
The county had spent 12 weeks at the low community level before moving to high on May 27 then down to medium on June 3. At the high level, universal masking in places open to the public is recommended and at the medium level indoor masking is recommended for those at high risk of severe illness.
Statewide, 47 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are at the low level, seven more than last week. Sixteen are at the medium level [-3] and four are at the high level [-4].
At the low level, a community 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 114.54 and 6.7 new COVID admissions per 100,000 people over the last week, with 4.5% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients, all down from a week ago.
Mount Nittany Medical Center has eight COVID-19 patients on Friday for the fifth time in seven days. None are intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 34 to 91, according to hospital’s COVID inpatient dashboard.
Over the last seven days, Mount Nittany has had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 7.7, up from 6.6 the previous week.
As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,097 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, a decrease of 116 from a week ago, with 109 in intensive care [-24] and 37 on ventilators [-14].
Centre County added 214 total new cases over the last week, according to DOH, a 22% decrease from new cases recorded the previous seven days. The county’s seven-day rolling average for new cases is 30.5, down from 39.1 a week ago.
The county has had a total of 37,569 COVID-19 cases (33,331 confirmed and 4,238 probable) since March 2020.
Pennsylvania registered 20,281 new positives over the last week, a 10% decrease from the prior week.
The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 2,975,031.
Deaths
DOH reported one new death attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total at 360.
With 167 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 45,580.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of June 8-14 was 11.9%, down from 14.8% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was tied for the 30th highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 12.5%, down from 14% the previous seven days.
Vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 96,424 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 117 since June 8, and 14,355 are partially covered [+5]. First booster doses have been administered to 52,312 county residents [+288] and 9,497 have received a second booster [+658].
Among the county’s entire population, 71.2% have received at least one dose, 60.5% are fully vaccinated and 53.1% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 76.5% have received at least one dose, 64.7% are fully vaccinated and 55.3% have received a booster.
Statewide, 78.9% of adults and 69.4% of the total population are fully vaccinated.
Vaccination appointments are available through Centre Volunteers in Medicine, Mount Nittany Health and through other pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.
All individuals age 12 and older are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot. All individuals 50 and older and certain immunocompromised individuals are now eligible for a second booster shot.
Vaccines for children under the age of 5 may be available as early as next week. The Food and Drug Administration has authorized approval of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for kids 6 months and older. The final step — CDC approval — could come on Saturday when a committee votes on guidelines for pharmacies and doctors.
Centre County’s cases by zip code:
*Note: Numbers in brackets reflect changes since June 8, when DOH last updated zip code data. 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): 9,188 confirmed [+41], 1,313 probable [+5]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 6,510 confirmed [+27], 587 probable [+3]
16803 (State College): 3,681 confirmed [+43], 754 probable [+1]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,198 confirmed [+14], 304 probable [+1]
16802 (University Park): 1,899 confirmed [+1], 308 probable [+1]
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,404 confirmed [+6], 187 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,140 confirmed [+5], 100 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 869 confirmed [+1], 82 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 850 confirmed [+13], 108 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 690 confirmed [+3], 77 probable
16844 (Julian): 558 confirmed [+4], 53 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 524 confirmed [+1], 35 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 311 confirmed, 30 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 295 confirmed [+2], 19 probable [-1]
16874 (Snow Shoe): 287 confirmed [+1], 39 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 260 confirmed [+5], 16 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 247 confirmed [+3], 25 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 199 confirmed, 27 probable
16854 (Millheim): 189 confirmed [+1], 17 probable
16829 (Clarence): 187 confirmed [+1], 25 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 177 confirmed, 16 probable
16851 (Lemont): 174 confirmed [+2], 30 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 111 confirmed [+2], 12 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 100 confirmed, 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 93 confirmed, 10 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 88 confirmed [+1], 5 probable
16835 (Fleming): 60 confirmed, 8 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 53 confirmed, 10 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 53 confirmed, 5 probable
16882 (Woodward): 40 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed
16804 (State College): 21 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties
[Changes in brackets are since June 8]
Blair: 30,738 [+127] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 20,199 [+91] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 12,629 [+74] High Community Level
Union: 12,135 [+59] Medium Community Level
Huntingdon: 11,903 [+67] High Community Level
Clinton: 9,530 [+65] Low Community Level
