Centre County added 11 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, marking the eighth consecutive day with fewer the 20 new positives.
The new cases bring the county’s total to 34,902 (31,010 confirmed and 3,892 probable), according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
The county’s seven-day moving average for new cases is nine, down from 20 a week ago and 57 a month ago. The average is the county’s lowest since July 29.
Pennsylvania recorded 901 new cases to increase the statewide total to 2,769,141.
The commonwealth’s seven-day average is 898, down from 1,047 a week ago and 3,593 a month ago. The statewide average is at its lowest since July 30.
Hospitalizations
According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, three COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in Centre County, unchanged from Friday, with one in intensive care and none on ventilators. Local COVID hospitalizations are at their lowest since mid-July.
Statewide, COVID-19 hospitalizations are at their lowest since Aug. 9. According to the hospital preparedness dashboard, 824 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in Pennsylvania, 52 fewer than on Friday, with 123 in intensive care [-14] and 75 on ventilators [-7].
Deaths
DOH reported no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents, keeping the total at 345.
With 26 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry, the statewide total is now 43,834.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of March 4-10 was 3.0%, down from 5.2% the previous seven days and marking a decline for the ninth consecutive week, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 13th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The county had 62 new cases for that seven-day period, 53 fewer than the prior week.
The statewide positivity rate was 3.6%, down from 4.6% the previous seven days. The commonwealth had 4,577 new positives between March 4-10, 2,358 fewer than the prior week.
Community level
Centre County dropped to the “low” community level for COVID-19 in 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.
All 67 counties in Pennsylvania are at the low or medium level this week. 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 2-8, there were fewer than five new cases among children in the 0-4 age group and 15 in the 5-18 age group in Centre County. About 17% of all cases in Centre County that week were among children 0-18.
Since Aug. 16, there have been 3,312 cases among individuals between the ages of 0 and 18 in Centre County — 677 between the ages of 0-4 and 2,635 between the ages of 5 and 18 — representing about 19% of all cases during that time.
Prison cases
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Benner state prison has one active COVID-19 case among inmates and one among staff .
Rockview state prison has no active inmate cases and two among staff.
Both facilities are in Benner Township.
At Benner, 1,432 inmates are fully vaccinated, 13 are partially vaccinated and 196 are not vaccinated. Among staff, 314 are fully vaccinated and 314 are not vaccinated.
Rockview has 1,713 inmates who are fully vaccinated and 66 who are not vaccinated. Among staff, 351 are fully vaccinated and 366 are not vaccinated.
Vaccinations
As of Saturday morning, 94,447 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 26 since Friday, and 14,129 are partially covered [+9]. Booster doses have been administered to 49,227 county residents [+51].
Among the county’s entire population, 69.5% have received at least one dose, 59.2% are fully vaccinated and 50.9% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 74.8% have received at least one dose, 63.3% are fully vaccinated and 53.5% have received a booster.
Statewide, 76.7% of adults and 67.3% 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): 8,551 confirmed [+2], 1,179 probable [+1]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 6,185 confirmed [+2], 571 probable [+1]
16803 (State College): 3,215 confirmed [+1], 648 probable
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,065 confirmed [+1], 297 probable
16802 (University Park): 1,840 confirmed, 275 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,273 confirmed [+1], 169 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,077 confirmed [+1], 99 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 779 confirmed, 81 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 736 confirmed, 101 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 647 confirmed, 74 probable [+1]
16844 (Julian): 541 confirmed [+1], 52 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 518 confirmed, 35 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 295 confirmed [+1], 29 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 285 confirmed, 20 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 273 confirmed, 38 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 245 confirmed, 16 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 222 confirmed, 21 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 191 confirmed, 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 180 confirmed, 15 probable
16829 (Clarence): 179 confirmed, 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, 8 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 81 confirmed, 5 probable
16835 (Fleming): 59 confirmed, 8 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 51 confirmed, 10 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 46 confirmed [+1], 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: 29,525 [+12]
Clearfield: 19,168 [+7]
Mifflin: 12,234 [+1]
Union: 11,649 [+2]
Huntingdon: 11,454 [+6]
Clinton: 9,001 [+3]
