Center County stayed at low community levels for COVID-19 for the 13th straight week as local new cases and hospitalizations related to the virus declined, 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, one of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties — Mercer — is at the high level, down five from last week. Forty is on the low level [-1]and 26 is medium [+6].
With COVID-19 cases surging across the country and influenza and RSV approaching the holidays, Americans can order four free at-home COVID testing kits online through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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 87.45 per 100,000 residents (up from 105.92 last week) and 4.9 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (up from 6.3), with 3.2% of inpatient beds from inpatient COVID-19 -patients were occupied (versus 4.5%).
The county added 142 reported new cases in the last week, down 30 from the previous seven days, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The seven-day moving average for new cases was 20.3 versus 24.5.
As of March 2020, a total of 42,683 COVID-19 cases (38,063 confirmed and 4,620 probable) have been reported among Center County residents.
Mount Nittany Medical Center had eight 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 60 and 92 years old. For the week of December 10-16, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient count of 6.7, up from 10.4 the previous week.
NATIONWIDE
Pennsylvania registered 13,838 reported new positives over the past week, down 98 cases from a week ago. The seven-day moving average of 1,977 is down from 1,991 the previous week.
The total number of Commonwealth cases since the pandemic began is now 3,388,571.
1,329 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized nationwide as of Wednesday, up 65 from a week earlier, with 165 in intensive care, according to DOH data [+11] and 64 on ventilators [+8].
DEATHS
DOH recorded three new deaths attributed to the virus among Center County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 384.
With 135 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania Death Registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 48,662.
POSITIVITY RATE
Center County’s PCR test positivity rate for the week of Dec. 7-13 was 10.3%, up from 11.5% for the previous seven days, according to the DOH Early Warning Monitoring Dashboard. The rate was the 30th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The nationwide positivity rate was 11.6%, up from 10.9% the previous week.
VACCINATIONS
As of Wednesday morning, 101,829 people in Center County have completed their primary immunization series, up from 172 since Dec. 7, and 13,320 are partially covered [-53]. Bivalent booster doses were administered to 25,937 county residents [+1,015].
Of the entire county population, 74.6% have received at least one dose and 63.4% have completed the primary vaccination course, while 17.3% of eligible residents (ages 5 and older) have received the bivalent booster shot, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 79.5% received at least one dose, 67.2% completed the primary series, and 18.5% received the bivalent booster.
Nationwide, 82.2% of adults and 72.8% of the general population have completed their primary series, while 18.1% of adults and 15.9% of all residents 5 years and older have received their bivalent booster.
Vaccination appointments can be made via the pharmacies and providers listed below vaccinate.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 – two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson – to be eligible for the new booster update. Pfizer boosters are now available for ages 5+ and Moderna boosters are available for ages 6+.
CENTER COUNTY’S FALLS BY ZIP
*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): 10,281 confirmed [+39]1,401 likely [-1]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,491 confirmed [+24]655 probable
16803 (State College): 4,395 confirmed [+18]861 probable [+1]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,665 confirmed [+22]338 probable
16802 (University Park): 2,084 confirmed [+5]314 likely
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,664 confirmed [+6]215 likely [+1]
16841 (Howard): 1,301 confirmed [+3]115 likely
16827 (Boalsburg): 1,008 confirmed [+4]126 probably
16828 (Middle Hall): 992 confirmed [+3]102 likely [+2]
16875 (Spring Mills): 795 confirmed [+1]83 probably
16844 (Julian): 639 confirmed [+2]58 probably
16845 (Carthus): 563 confirmed, 32 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 350 confirmed [+2]20 probably
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 340 confirmed [+1]32 probably
16874 (Snowshoe): 332 confirmed [+1]41 probably
16826 (Blanchard): 294 confirmed, 18 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 283 confirmed [+3]29 probably
16820 (Aaronsburg): 220 confirmed [+1]28 probably
16851 (Lemon): 217 confirmed [+4]34 probably [+1]
16829 (Clarence): 212 confirmed [+2]25 probably
16854 (Millheim): 208 confirmed, 18 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 194 confirmed, 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 129 confirmed [+2]13 probably
16859 (Moshannon): 121 confirmed [+1]6 probably
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 112 confirmed, 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 105 confirmed, 11 probable
16835 (Fleming): 72 confirmed, 7 probable
16852 (Madisonburg): 58 confirmed, 5 probable
16856 (Mingoville): 57 confirmed, 12 probable
16882 (Woodward): 49 confirmed, 5 confirmed
16804 (State College): 24 confirmed, 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
CASES AMONG THE ADJACENT COUNTIES OF CENTER COUNTY
Blair: 34,158 [+90] Low community level
Free field: 23,327 [+80] Low community level
Mifflin: 14,586 [+70] Medium community level
Union: 13,223 [+28] Medium community level
Huntington’s: 13,417 [+60] Medium community level
Clinton: 10,783 [+36] Medium community level