Centre County reported 77 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, increasing its total to 23,809, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Among total cases 21,456 are confirmed and 2,353 are probable.
For the second consecutive day, Pennsylvania recorded more than 11,000 new positives statewide. The 11,052 cases registered on Saturday bring the commonwealth’s total to 1,829,351.
It’s the first time since early January that Pennsylvania has reported more than 10,000 new cases on consecutive days. The last time there were more than 11,000 new cases on consecutive days was a year ago, on Dec. 10, 11 and 12.
Centre County also added 119 negative test results, bringing its total to 85,319. There were 9,078 new negatives statewide for a total of 5,972,235.
Deaths
DOH reported no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents, keeping the total at 267.
With 156 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry, the statewide total is now 34,571.
Hospitalizations
According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, 62 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in Centre County, three fewer than Friday, with six in intensive care [-2] and six on ventilators [-2]
For the week of Dec. 3-9, Centre County had 62 average daily COVID hospitalizations, up from 44.9 the previous seven days, according to the updated Department of Health early warning monitoring dashboard.
Mount Nittany Medical Center officials reported on Friday that the average daily COVID patient census in December is the highest its been throughout the entire pandemic. The surge in COVID emergency department visits and inpatient admission has led administrators to “reallocating staff and resources in real time,” and resulted in substantially longer wait times at the ER. All elective surgeries requiring overnight admission are postponed at least through Dec. 20.
Pennsylvania has 4,505 COVID-19 inpatients, three more than on Friday, with 964 in intensive care [+24] and 544 on ventilators [-16], according to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard. Statewide hospitalizations are at their highest level since Jan. 21.
Statewide, there were 4,251 average daily COVID hospitalizations from Dec. 3-9, up from 3,787.6 the prior week.
An estimated 90% of COVID-19 patients in the state have recovered, according to a DOH calculation that considers a case as recovered if it has not been reported as a death and it is more than 30 days past the date of the first positive test or onset of symptoms.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Dec. 3-9 was 14.8%, down from 15.7% the previous seven days, according to the monitoring dashboard. The rate was 17th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The county had 538 new cases for that seven-day period, nine more than the prior week.
The statewide positivity rate was 14.4%, down from 15.2% the previous seven days. The commonwealth had 41,144 new positives between Dec. 3-9, 3,914 more than the prior week.
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 Dec. 1-7, there were 25 new cases among children in the 0-4 age group and 103 in the 5-18 age group in Centre County. About 23% of all cases in Centre County that week were among children 0-18.
Since Aug. 16, there have been 1,213 cases among individuals between the ages of 0 and 18 in Centre County — 193 between the ages of 0-4 and 1,020 between the ages of 5 and 18 — representing about 20% of all cases during that time.
Prison cases
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Benner state prison has 26 active COVID-19 cases among inmates and 30 among staff, two more than on Friday.
Rockview state prison has four active inmate cases and 20 among staff [-1]
Both facilities are in Benner Township.
At Benner, 1,539 inmates are fully vaccinated, nine are partially vaccinated and 196 are not vaccinated. Among staff, 283 are fully vaccinated and 345 are not vaccinated.
Rockview has 1,685 inmates who are fully vaccinated and 62 who are not vaccinated. Among staff, 334 are fully vaccinated and 383 are not vaccinated.
Transmission level
All 67 counties in Pennsylvania are at the highest level for community transmission of COVID-19 on the Centers for Disease Control scale, according to the latest county-level data update.
Transmission levels are based on positivity rate and cases per 100,000 people for the previous seven days. At the substantial and high levels, CDC guidance recommends all people, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in public indoor settings.
Vaccinations
As of Saturday morning, 89,476 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 72 since Friday, and 10,927 are partially covered [+156]. Booster doses have been administered to 27,978 county residents [+446].
Among the county’s entire population, 70.1% have received at least one dose and 54.5% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 76.4% have received at least one dose and 59.1% are fully vaccinated.
Statewide, 70% of adults and 59.8% of the total population are fully vaccinated.
Vaccination appointments through Centre Volunteers in Medicine, Mount Nittany Health and through other pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.
All individuals age 16 and older are now 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): 6,721 confirmed [+11], 612 probable [-3]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 4,175 confirmed [+22], 392 probable [+2]
16803 (State College): 1,965 confirmed [+4], 305 probable [+3]
16802 (University Park): 1,628 confirmed [+1], 99 probable [+2]
16866 (Philipsburg): 1,371 confirmed [+8], 229 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 783 confirmed [+2], 113 probable
16841 (Howard): 733 confirmed [+1], 86 probable [+1]
16875 (Spring Mills): 507 confirmed [+2], 60 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 505 confirmed [+1], 55 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 457 confirmed [+2], 67 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 377 confirmed [+5], 27 probable
16844 (Julian): 373 confirmed [+1], 46 probable [-1]
16853 (Milesburg): 205 confirmed [+2], 12 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 202 confirmed [+1], 23 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 183 confirmed [+4], 31 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 167 confirmed [+1], 14 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 131 confirmed, 12 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 129 confirmed, 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 129 confirmed, 13 probable
16829 (Clarence): 122 confirmed, 24 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 107 confirmed, 12 probable
16851 (Lemont): 92 confirmed [+1], 20 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 64 confirmed, 5 probable
16832 (Coburn): 63 confirmed, 5 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 51 confirmed [+1], 1-4 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 43 confirmed, 7 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 37 confirmed, 9 probable
16835 (Fleming): 36 confirmed, 8 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 35 confirmed, 5 probable
16882 (Woodward): 21 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 14 confirmed
16804 (State College): 13 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed [+at least 1]
Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties
Blair: 21,869 [+208]
Clearfield: 13,477 [+56]
Mifflin: 8,604 [+29]
Union: 8,467 [+28]
Huntingdon: 7,973 [+41]
Clinton: 6,349 [+22]
