Centre County registered four new COVID-19 cases on Saturday as hospitalizations for the virus continued to fall locally and statewide, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
The county’s new cases mark the fifth single-digit increase in the last week and bring the total to 35,097 (31,163 confirmed and 3,934 probable) since March 2020. Centre County’s seven-day moving average for new cases is 8.3, up slightly from 8 a week ago and down from 21.6 a month ago.
Pennsylvania reported fewer than 1,000 new positives for the 22nd time in 23 days. The 653 new cases bring the statewide total to 2,782,827.
The commonwealth’s seven-day average is 591, down from 602 a week ago and 1,310 a month ago.
Hospitalizations
According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, one COVID-19 patient is hospitalized in Centre County, one fewer than on Friday. The patient is not on a ventilator or in intensive care.
Statewide, COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped to their lowest level since July 26. According to the DOH hospital preparedness dashboard, 420 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in Pennsylvania, 38 fewer than on Friday, with 63 in intensive care [+2] and 45 on ventilators [-5].
Deaths
DOH reported no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents, keeping the total at 346.
With 18 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry, the statewide total is now 44,313.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of March 25-31 was 3%, unchanged from the previous seven days and marking the first time in 12 weeks without a decline, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 36th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The county had 44 new cases for that seven-day period, seven fewer than the prior week.
The statewide positivity rate was 3.1%, up from 2.9% the previous seven days. The commonwealth had 3,233 new positives between March 25-31, 68 fewer than the prior week.
Community level
Centre County remains at the “low” community level for COVID-19 for the fourth 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, 64 of 67 counties are at the low level, with Bradford, Sullivan and Susquehanna 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 23-29, there were five new cases among children in the 0-4 age group and seven 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 3,344 cases among individuals between the ages of 0 and 18 in Centre County — 691 between the ages of 0-4 and 2,653 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 one case among inmates and one among staff.
At Benner, 1,407 inmates are fully vaccinated, 20 are partially vaccinated and 196 are not vaccinated. Among staff, 313 are fully vaccinated and 316 are not vaccinated.
Rockview has 1,710 inmates who are fully vaccinated, two who are partially vaccinated and 82 who are not vaccinated. Among staff, 348 are fully vaccinated and 370 are not vaccinated.
Vaccinations
As of Saturday morning, 94,819 people in Centre County are fully vaccinated, an increase of 26 since Friday, and 14,222 are partially covered [+1]. Booster doses have been administered to 49,858 county residents [+37]
Among the county’s entire population, 69.8% have received at least one dose, 59.4% are fully vaccinated and 51.3% are fully vaccinated with a booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 75.2% have received at least one dose, 63.5% are fully vaccinated and 53.9% have received a booster.
Statewide, 77.1% of adults and 67.6% 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. All individuals 50 and older and certain immunocompromised individuals are now eligible for a second 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): 8,587 confirmed [+4], 1,195 probable [-3]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 6,206 confirmed [+1], 572 probable
16803 (State College): 3,238 confirmed [+1], 665 probable
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,081 confirmed, 297 probable
16802 (University Park): 1,846 confirmed, 278 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,286 confirmed [+1], 171 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,084 confirmed, 100 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 785 confirmed, 81 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 742 confirmed, 101 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 649 confirmed, 73 probable
16844 (Julian): 541 confirmed, 52 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 519 confirmed, 35 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 299 confirmed, 29 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 285 confirmed, 20 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 279 confirmed, 38 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 245 confirmed, 16 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 223 confirmed, 22 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 193 confirmed, 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 181 confirmed, 15 probable
16829 (Clarence): 180 confirmed, 25 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 167 confirmed, 16 probable
16851 (Lemont): 159 confirmed, 26 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 100 confirmed, 11 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 98 confirmed, 6 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): 40 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: 29,613 [+6]
Clearfield: 19,260
Mifflin: 12,258 [+1]
Union: 11,679 [+1]
Huntingdon: 11,487
Clinton: 9,029 [+1]
