Centre County moved to the low community level for COVID-19 for the first time in three weeks as new cases of the virus continued to decline, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.
The county was at the medium level last week and the high level two weeks ago.
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.
Statewide, six of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are at the high level, eight fewer than last week, including neighboring Huntingdon and Mifflin. Twenty-three are at the low level [+3] and 38 are at medium [+5].
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 139.79 per 100,000 people, down from 206.92 last week, and 9.1 new COVID admissions per 100,000, up from 7, with 4.8% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients, up slightly from 4.7%.
Mount Nittany Medical Center had 15 COVID-19 inpatients on Friday, according to its inpatient dashboard, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 31 to 89. For the week of Sept. 17-23, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 14.4, up from 10.1 last week.
As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,146 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, 25 fewer than a week ago, with 138 in intensive care [+5] and 61 on ventilators [+5].
Centre County added 227 reported new cases in the last week, a 33% decrease from the previous seven days, according to DOH data.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases is 32.4 down from 48.
The county has had a total of 41,085 COVID-19 cases (36,575 confirmed and 4,510 probable) since March 2020.
Pennsylvania registered 18,981 reported new positives over the last week, an 8% increase from a week ago. The rolling seven-day average of 2,711 is up from from 2,500 the prior week.
The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,239,298.
Deaths
DOH recorded two new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 371.
With 128 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 47,098.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Sept. 14-20 was 16.2%, down from 20.1%, the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was tied for 35th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 14.3%, down from 15.6% the prior week.
Vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 97,881 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 94 since Sept. 14, and 15,253 are partially covered [-13]. First booster doses have been administered to 54,365 county residents [+43] and 13,021 have received a second booster [+20].
Among the county’s entire population, 72.8% have received at least one dose, 61.5% are fully vaccinated and 54.4% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 77.6% have received at least one dose, 65.5% are fully vaccinated and 56.3% have received a booster.
Statewide, 80.1% of adults and 70.8% of the total population are fully vaccinated, while at least one booster dose has been administered to 47.1% of adults and 44.6% of the total population.
Vaccination appointments are available through pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.
Vaccine providers have begun administering updated COVID-19 booster vaccines. The vaccines, which provide additional protection against the original coronavirus and Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, were recently approved by the CDC after receiving emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.
The new Pfizer vaccine is available to individuals 12 years of age and older, while the new Moderna booster shot is available to people 18 years of age and older. Individuals must have already received their primary vaccination series — two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson — to be eligible for the new updated 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): 9,973 confirmed [+50], 1,373 probable
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,152 confirmed [+35], 632 probable [+5]
16803 (State College): 4,210 confirmed [+37], 839 probable [+3]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,453 confirmed [+19], 329 probable [+8]
16802 (University Park): 2,060 confirmed [+13], 313 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,571 confirmed [+7], 206 probable [-1]
16841 (Howard): 1,245 confirmed [+7], 111 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 954 confirmed [+7], 123 probable [+1]
16828 (Centre Hall): 953 confirmed [+4], 93 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 754 confirmed [+7], 82 probable
16844 (Julian): 613 confirmed [+11], 57 probable [-2]
16845 (Karthaus): 541 confirmed [+5], 32 probable [-1]
16853 (Milesburg): 336 confirmed [+7], 20 probable [-1]
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 330 confirmed [+2], 31 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 313 confirmed, 41 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 282 confirmed [+3],16 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 270 confirmed [+4], 29 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 209 confirmed [+2], 29 probable
16851 (Lemont): 203 confirmed [+4], 30 probable
16829 (Clarence): 203 confirmed, 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 202 confirmed [+1], 18 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 190 confirmed, 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 125 confirmed [+1], 13 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 112 confirmed, 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 107 confirmed [+3], 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 99 confirmed, 10 probable
16835 (Fleming): 69 confirmed, 8 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 56 confirmed [+1], 12 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 56 confirmed, 5 probable
16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed [+3], 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
Blair: 33,018 [+144] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 22,167 [+173] Medium Community Level
Mifflin: 13,836 [+104] High Community Level
Union: 12,771 [+31] Medium Community Level
Huntingdon: 12,893 [+106] High Community Level
Clinton: 10,307 [+63] Medium Community Level
