Centre County registered 18 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday to increase its total to 34,984 since March 2020, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Among total cases, 31,072 are confirmed and 3,912 are probable.
The county’s seven-day moving average for new cases is 11, according to DOH, up from nine a week ago and down from 40 a month ago.
Pennsylvania recorded fewer than 1,000 new positives for the eighth time in nine days. The 691 new cases bring the statewide total to 2,774,453.
The commonwealth’s seven-day average is 700, down from 901 a week ago and 2,809 a month ago. The statewide average is at its lowest since July 27.
Hospitalizations
According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, four COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in Centre County, one more than on Friday, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. Local hospitalizations continue to be at their lowest level since mid-July.
Statewide, COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped to their lowest since Aug. 5. According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, 656 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in Pennsylvania, 21 fewer than on Friday, with 104 in intensive care [+1] and 56 on ventilators [-2].
Deaths
DOH did not update COVID-19 death data on Saturday. As of Friday, Pennsylvania has had 44,011 deaths attributed to the virus since the start of the pandemic, including 346 among Centre County residents.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of March 11-17 was 3%, down from 3.2% the previous seven days and marking a decline for the 10th consecutive week, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 27th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The county had 52 new cases for that seven-day period, 13 fewer than the prior week.
The statewide positivity rate was 3%, down from 3.6% the previous seven days. The commonwealth had 4,016 new positives between March 11-17, 631 fewer than the prior week.
Community level
Centre County remains at the “low” community level for COVID-19 for the second consecutive week, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday.
Introduced on Feb. 25, community levels measure not only new cases, but also new hospitalizations and local hospital capacity to determine mitigation guidelines. At the low level, there is no recommendation for indoor masking.
Statewide, 66 of 67 counties are at the low level, with only Crawford County at the medium level. At the medium level, the CDC recommends masks indoors in public for those at risk of severe illness. At the high level, universal indoor public masking is recommended.
Cases among children
For the 2021-2022 school year, DOH is providing weekly updated case counts for two age groups: 0-4 capturing preschool and daycare age children and 5-18 capturing kindergarten through high school age children. The case counts do not necessarily represent exposure in school or daycare settings and the location of exposure cannot be determined in most cases.
For the week of March 9-15, there were seven new cases among children in the 0-4 age group and six in the 5-18 age group in Centre County. About 21% of all cases in Centre County that week were among children 0-18.
Since Aug. 16, there have been 3,325 cases among individuals between the ages of 0 and 18 in Centre County — 684 between the ages of 0-4 and 2,641 between the ages of 5 and 18 — representing about 19% of all cases during that time.
Prison cases
Rockview state prison has no COVID-19 cases among inmates or staff, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
Centre County’s other state prison, Benner, has two cases among staff and none among inmates.
At Benner, 1,419 inmates are fully vaccinated, 16 are partially vaccinated and 204 are not vaccinated. Among staff, 313 are fully vaccinated [-1] and 315 are not vaccinated [+1].
Rockview has 1,721 inmates who are fully vaccinated, three who are partially vaccinated and 82 who are not vaccinated. Among staff, 351 are fully vaccinated and 366 are not vaccinated.
Vaccinations
DOH did not update vaccination numbers on Saturday. As of Friday morning, 94,561 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated and 14,133 are partially covered. Booster doses have been administered to 49,417 county residents.
Among the county’s entire population, 69.6% have received at least one dose, 59.3% are fully vaccinated and 51% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 75% have received at least one dose, 63.4% are fully vaccinated and 53.7% have received a booster.
Statewide, 76.9% of adults and 67.4% 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.
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): 8,568 confirmed [+5], 1,186 probable [+1]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 6,196 confirmed [+2], 571 probable
16803 (State College): 3,223 confirmed [+1], 656 probable [+2]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,073 confirmed [+1], 297 probable
16802 (University Park): 1,841 confirmed [+1], 277 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,277 confirmed [+2], 170 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,079 confirmed, 100 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 783 confirmed [+1], 81 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 738 confirmed [+1], 101 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 647 confirmed, 74 probable
16844 (Julian): 541 confirmed, 52 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 518 confirmed, 35 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 296 confirmed [+1], 29 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 285 confirmed, 20 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 278 confirmed, 38 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 245 confirmed, 16 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 222 confirmed, 21 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 191 confirmed, 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 181 confirmed, 15 probable
16829 (Clarence): 180 confirmed [+1], 24 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 165 confirmed, 16 probable
16851 (Lemont): 158 confirmed, 25 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 98 confirmed, 6 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 97 confirmed, 11 probable
16832 (Coburn): 90 confirmed, 9 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 81 confirmed, 5 probable
16835 (Fleming): 59 confirmed, 8 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 51 confirmed, 10 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 49 confirmed, 5 probable
16882 (Woodward): 39 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16804 (State College): 20 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 20 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties
Blair: 29,564 [+6]
Clearfield: 19,211 [+10]
Mifflin: 12,242 [+2]
Union: 11,662 [+4]
Huntingdon: 11,471 [+5]
Clinton: 9,016 [+2]