Centre County moved back to the low COVID-19 community level this week after spending the previous seven days at the medium level, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.
Reported new cases and hospitalizations linked to the virus declined over the last week locally and statewide. The county now has been at the low level for five of the last six weeks and 22 of the last 24.
Centre is among 36 counties at the low level, six more than last week. Thirty-one are at medium [-5] and none are at high [-1].
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.
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 76.98 per 100,000 people (down from 85.6 last week) and 4.9 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (down from 10.5), with 3.6% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (down from 4.8%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had 10 COVID-19 inpatients as of the hospital’s inpatient dashboard update on Thursday. None are in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 31 to 90. For the week of Feb. 24-March 2, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 8.4, down from 11.7 last week.
The county added 125 reported new cases in the last week, 14 fewer than the previous seven days, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 17.8, down from 19.8.
A total of 44,096 COVID-19 cases (39,364 confirmed and 4,732 probable) have been reported among Centre County residents since March 2020.
STATEWIDE
Pennsylvania registered 8,676 reported new positives over the last week, 1,749 fewer than the previous week’s new cases and the lowest weekly total in more than six months. The rolling seven-day average of 1,239 new cases is down from 1,489 the prior week.
The commonwealth’s case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,520,813.
According to the DOH data, 1,035 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide as of Wednesday, 100 fewer than a week earlier, with 136 in intensive care [+7] and 47 on ventilators [-3].
DEATHS
DOH recorded no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, keeping the total at 396.
With 113 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 50,281.
POSITIVITY RATE
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Feb. 22-28 was 13.1% up from 12.8%, the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was tied for 22nd highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 10.9%, down from 12.1% the prior week.
VACCINATIONS
As of Wednesday morning, 102,893 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 25 since Feb. 22, and 13,055 are partially covered [-6]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 30,472 county residents [+47].
Among the county’s entire population, 75.3% have received at least one dose and 63.9% have completed the primary vaccine series, while 20.4% of eligible residents (age 5 and older) have received the bivalent booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 80.1% have received at least one dose, 67.7% have completed the primary series and 21.7% have received the bivalent booster booster.
Statewide, 82.8% of adults and 73.4% of the total population have completed the primary series, while the bivalent booster has been administered to 21.6% of adults and 19.1% of all residents age 5 and older.
Vaccination appointments are available through pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.
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): 10,588 confirmed [+22], 1,429 probable
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,797 confirmed [+41], 668 probable [+2]
16803 (State College): 4,561 confirmed [+11], 881 probable [+4]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,833 confirmed [+15], 355 probable
16802 (University Park): 2,125 confirmed [+5], 317 probable [+1]
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,709 confirmed, 229 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,342 confirmed [+2], 116 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 1,049 confirmed [+4], 138 probable [+2]
16828 (Centre Hall): 1,035 confirmed [+1], 102 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 821 confirmed, 89 probable
16844 (Julian): 666 confirmed, 57 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 570 confirmed, 33 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 367 confirmed [+1], 20 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 356 confirmed [+1], 41 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 352 confirmed, 35 probable [+1]
16826 (Blanchard): 306 confirmed, 18 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 293 confirmed [+1], 30 probable
16851 (Lemont): 230 confirmed [+1], 34 probable
16829 (Clarence): 226 confirmed [+3], 26 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 224 confirmed, 28 probable
16854 (Millheim): 212 confirmed, 19 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 199 confirmed [+1], 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 133 confirmed, 15 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 130 confirmed, 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 115 confirmed [+1], 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 109 confirmed, 12 probable
16835 (Fleming): 73 confirmed, 7 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 63 confirmed [+2], 5 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 58 confirmed, 12 probable
16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16804 (State College): 24 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 23 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
CASES AMONG CENTRE COUNTY’S BORDERING COUNTIES
Blair: 35,128 [+84] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 24,365 [+67] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 15,135 [+35] Low Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,861 [+32] Low Community Level
Union: 13,541 [+28] Medium Community Level
Clinton: 11,150 [+42] Medium Community Level
