Centre County stayed at the low community level for COVID-19 for the third consecutive week as new cases and hospitalizations linked to the virus continued to fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest update on Thursday night.
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, seven of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, including neighboring Mifflin, are at the high level, three more than last week. Thirty-three are at the low level and 27 are at medium [-3].
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 65.28 per 100,000 people (down from 97.3 last week) and 6.7 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (down from 9.1), with 4.7% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (down from 5.6%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had 11 COVID-19 inpatients on Thursday, according to its most recent inpatient dashboard update, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 61 to 88. For the week of Sept. 30-Oct. 6, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 10, down from 15 last week.
As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,165 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, 21 fewer than a week ago, with 123 in intensive care [-18] and 56 on ventilators [-12].
Centre County added 106 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 15.1, down from 22.6.
The county has had a total of 41,349 COVID-19 cases (36,814 confirmed and 4,535 probable) since March 2020.
Pennsylvania registered 12,431 reported new positives over the last week, an 18% decrease from a week ago. The rolling seven-day average of 1,776 is down from 2,172 the prior week.
The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,266,934.
Deaths
DOH recorded no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, keeping the total at 371.
With 110 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 47,323.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Sept. 28-Oct. 4 was 10.2%, down from 12.3% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 12th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 12.2%, down from 13% the prior week.
Vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 99,149 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series and 14,549 are partially covered. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 10,247 county residents.
Among the county’s entire population, 73.2% have received at least one dose, 62% have completed the primary vaccine series and 55% have received at least one booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 78% have received at least one dose, 66% have completed the primary series and 56.8% have received a booster.
Statewide, 80.5% of adults and 71.1% of the total population have completed the primary series, while at least one booster dose has been administered to 47.7% of adults and 45.2% 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): 10,032 confirmed [+23], 1,379 probable [+2]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,209 confirmed [+30], 639 probable [-2]
16803 (State College): 4,234 confirmed [+8], 843 probable [+1]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,468 confirmed [+5], 330 probable
16802 (University Park): 2,064 confirmed [+1], 313 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,591 confirmed [+5], 208 probable [-1]
16841 (Howard): 1,259 confirmed [+10], 111 probable [-2]
16827 (Boalsburg): 966 confirmed [+6], 124 probable
16828 (Centre Hall): 957 confirmed [+3], 97 probable [+2]
16875 (Spring Mills): 760 confirmed [+3], 82 probable
16844 (Julian): 619 confirmed [+2], 57 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 546 confirmed, 32 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 337 confirmed, 20 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 332 confirmed [+1], 32 probable [+1]
16874 (Snow Shoe): 316 confirmed, 41 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 285 confirmed [+2],17 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 271 confirmed [+1], 29 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 212 confirmed [+2], 29 probable
16854 (Millheim): 206 confirmed [+2], 18 probable
16829 (Clarence): 205 confirmed, 25 probable
16851 (Lemont): 203 confirmed, 30 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 190 confirmed, 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 125 confirmed, 13 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 113 confirmed, 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 107 confirmed, 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 101 confirmed [+1], 10 probable
16835 (Fleming): 69 confirmed, 8 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 56 confirmed, 12 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 56 confirmed, 5 probable
16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16804 (State College): 22 confirmed [+1], 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties
Blair: 33,249 [+82] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 22,415 [+101] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 14,044 [+107] High Community Level
Union: 12,851 [+56] Medium Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,016 [+47] Medium Community Level
Clinton: 10,396 [+38] Low Community Level
