Center County remained at the low community level for COVID-19 for the 11th straight week as local new cases and hospitalizations related to the virus remained mostly stable, according to the latest update from the Centers for Disease Control Thursday night.
At a low level, the CDC recommends wearing a mask if it is symptomatic, if a person has tested positive for COVID-19 or has been exposed to someone who has, and if they are on public transportation, but does not recommend a universal mask indoors in public places.
Statewide, only one of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties — Mercer — is at the same high level as last week. Thirty-six is low [-7] and 30 is medium [+7].
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 occupied COVID-19 inpatient beds -patients in the same period.
Center County had a case rate of 67.12 per 100,000 residents (up from 64.66 last week) and 6.7 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (flat), with 6.2% of inpatient beds occupied by inpatients with COVID-19 were (vs. 5.2%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had nine hospitalized COVID-19 patients, none of whom were in intensive care units or on ventilators, according to its inpatient dashboard Friday. The patients are between 20 and 87 years old. As of December 10, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient count of 11.8, up from 13 in the last week.
1,269 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, up 140 from a week ago, including 162 in intensive care units, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s weekly update Wednesday [+18] and 60 on ventilators [+6].
Center County added 109 reported new cases last week, four more than in the previous seven days, according to DOH data. The seven-day moving average for new cases was 15.6 versus 15.
The county has had a total of 42,369 COVID-19 cases (37,769 confirmed and 4,600 probable) as of March 2020.
Pennsylvania registered 10,730 new positives reported in the last week, a 6% increase from new cases a week ago. The seven-day moving average of 1,533 is up from 1,436 the previous week.
The total number of Commonwealth cases since the pandemic began is now 3,360,797.
deaths
DOH recorded no new deaths attributed to the virus among Center County residents over the past week, keeping the total at 379.
With 116 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania Death Registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 48,387.
positivity rate
Center County’s PCR test positivity rate for the week of November 23-29 was 10.7%, up from 8.9% for the previous seven days, according to the DOH Early Warning Monitoring Dashboard. The rate was the 23rd highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The nationwide positivity rate was 9.9%, up from 9.2% the previous week.
vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 101,452 people in Center County have completed their primary immunization series, up from 116 since Nov. 23, and 13,446 are partially covered [-65]. Bivalent booster doses were administered to 23,972 county residents [+674].
Of the county’s total population, 74.5% have received at least one dose, 63.2% have completed the primary vaccination course, while 16% of eligible residents (ages 5 and older) have received the bivalent booster shot, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 79.3% received at least one dose, 67% completed the primary series, and 17.1% received the bivalent booster.
Nationwide, 81.9% of adults and 72.5% of the general population have completed their primary series, while 16.4% of adults and 14.4% of all residents 5 years and older have received their bivalent booster.
Vaccination appointments can be made via the pharmacies and providers listed below vaccines.gov.
Vaccine providers are now administering bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccines that provide additional protection against the original coronavirus and Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
Individuals must have already received their primary series of vaccines – two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson – to be eligible for the new booster vaccine update. Pfizer boosters are now available for ages 5+ and Moderna boosters are available for ages 6+.
Center County cases by zip code:
*Note: Changes are in parentheses. Specific numbers for zip codes with 1-4 cases will be redacted by the health department. Cases are not always assigned zip codes immediately.
16801 (State College): 10,203 confirmed [+23]1,399 likely [+2]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,434 confirmed [+27]652 likely [+1]
16803 (State College): 4,349 confirmed [+12]855 likely
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,621 confirmed [+10]336 probable
16802 (University Park): 2,071 confirmed [+1]314 likely
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,652 confirmed [+5]214 probably [+1]
16841 (Howard): 1,294 confirmed [+6]112 likely
16827 (Boalsburg): 1,003 confirmed [+3]126 probably
16828 (Middle Hall): 986 confirmed [+4]98 probably
16875 (Spring Mills): 789 confirmed [+2]83 probably
16844 (Julian): 636 confirmed [+2]58 probably
16845 (Carthus): 563 confirmed [+3]32 probably
16853 (Milesburg): 345 confirmed [+1]20 probably
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 339 confirmed [+1]32 probably
16874 (Snowshoe): 328 confirmed [+2]41 probably
16826 (Blanchard): 294 confirmed [+3].17 probably
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 279 confirmed, 29 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 219 confirmed [+3]28 probably [-1]
16851 (Lemon): 211 confirmed [+2]33 probably
16829 (Clarence): 209 confirmed, 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 208 confirmed, 18 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 193 confirmed, 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 127 confirmed, 13 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 119 confirmed, 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 112 confirmed [+1]6 probably
16832 (Coburn): 105 confirmed, 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): 23 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
Cases in the contiguous counties of Center County
Blair: 33,984 [+67] Low community level
Free field: 23,154 [+66] Low community level
Mifflin: 14,461 [+49] Medium community level
Union: 13,149 [+41] Medium community level
Huntington’s: 13,317 [+35] Medium community level
Clinton: 10,702 [+30] Medium community level