Centre County remained at the low community level for COVID-19 for the eighth consecutive week as local new cases and hospitalizations linked to the virus fell, 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.
Four of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties — Bradford, Mercer, Sullivan and Susquehanna — are at the high level, one fewer than last week. Thirty-one are at the low level and 32 are at medium [+1].
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 73.9 per 100,000 people (down from 89.91 last week) and 8.1 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (down from 8.8), with 4.2% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (down from 5.5%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had nine COVID-19 inpatients on Friday, according to its inpatient dashboard, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 27 to 92. For the week of Nov. 5-11, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 8, down from 12.7 last week.
As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,261 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, 13 more than a week ago, with 163 in intensive care [-9] and 58 on ventilators [-11].
Centre County added 120 reported new cases in the last week, 26 fewer than the previous seven days, according to DOH data.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases is 17.1, down from 20.8.
The county has had a total of 42,024 COVID-19 cases (37,445 confirmed and 4,579 probable) since March 2020.
Pennsylvania registered 12,208 reported new positives over the last week, a 6% decrease from new cases a week ago. The rolling seven-day average of 1,744 is down from 1,862 the prior week.
The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,330,062.
Deaths
DOH recorded no new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, keeping the total at 377.
With 154 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 47,994.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Nov. 2-8 was 8.1%, down from 12.1% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 13th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 10.4% , down from 11.3% the prior week.
Vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 100,814 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 329 since Oct. 26, and 13,766 are partially covered [-163]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 20,235 county residents [+1,858].
Among the county’s entire population, 74.1% have received at least one dose, 62.8% have completed the primary vaccine series and 55.7% have received at least one booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 79% have received at least one dose, 66.7% have completed the primary series and 57.6% have received a booster.
Statewide, 81.5% of adults and 72.1% of the total population have completed the primary series, while at least one booster dose has been administered to 48.7% of adults and 46.2% of the total population.
Vaccination appointments are available through pharmacies and providers listed at vaccines.gov.
Vaccine providers are now administering updated COVID-19 booster vaccines, which provide additional protection against the original coronavirus and Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
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. Pfizer boosters are now available for ages 5 and older and Moderna boosters are available for ages 6 and older.
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): 10,141 confirmed [+20], 1,393 probable
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,360 confirmed [+26], 646 probable [+1]
16803 (State College): 4,318 confirmed [+15], 849 probable
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,557 confirmed [+22], 334 probable
16802 (University Park): 2,069 confirmed [+1], 313 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,635 confirmed [+8], 213 probable [+2]
16841 (Howard): 1,283 confirmed [+4], 111 probable
16827 (Boalsburg): 990 confirmed [+6], 125 probable [+1]
16828 (Centre Hall): 978 confirmed [+2], 97 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 779 confirmed [+1], 83 probable
16844 (Julian): 630 confirmed [+1], 58 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 560 confirmed [+4], 32 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 343 confirmed [+1], 20 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 338 confirmed, 32 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 325 confirmed, 41 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 289 confirmed,17 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 276 confirmed [+1], 29 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 215 confirmed, 29 probable
16851 (Lemont): 208 confirmed, 33 probable
16829 (Clarence): 208 confirmed, 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 207 confirmed, 18 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 191 confirmed, 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 126 confirmed [-1], 13 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 118 confirmed [+2], 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 109 confirmed [+1], 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 104 confirmed [+1], 11 probable
16835 (Fleming): 71 confirmed, 7 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 57 confirmed, 12 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 57 confirmed, 5 probable
16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16804 (State College): 22 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties
Blair: 33,816 [+82] Medium Community Level
Clearfield: 22,955 [+92] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 14,329 [+43] Low Community Level
Union: 13,059 [+52] Medium Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,211 [+37] Low Community Level
Clinton: 10,601 [+42] Medium Community Level
