Center County stayed at low community levels for COVID-19 for the 10th straight week as new cases of the virus fell, according to the latest update from the Centers for Disease Control Friday.
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.
Nationally, more than two-thirds of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are at the low level. 43 are low, four up from last week, while 23 are medium [-4] and only one – Mercer – is at a high level.
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 64.66 per 100,000 residents (up from 80.67 last week) and 6.7 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (up from 8.1), with 5.2% of inpatient beds from inpatient COVID-19 -patients were occupied (versus 4.5%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center as of Friday had 13 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, none of whom were in intensive care or on ventilators, according to its inpatient dashboard. The patients are between 22 and 99 years old. For the week of November 19-25, Mount Nittany had an average daily inpatient COVID count of 13, up from 11.4 the last week.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,129 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, down eight from a week ago, with 144 in intensive care units [+7] and 54 on ventilators [-7].
Center County added 105 reported new cases last week, down 26 from the previous seven days, according to DOH data.
The seven-day moving average for new cases is 15 versus 18.7.
The county has had a total of 42,260 COVID-19 cases (37,663 confirmed and 4,597 probable) as of March 2020.
Pennsylvania registered 10,052 new positives reported in the last week, up 1% from new cases a week ago. The seven day moving average of 1436 is up from 1422 the previous week.
The nationwide case count since the pandemic began is now 3,350,067.
deaths
DOH recorded no new deaths attributed to the virus among Center County residents over the past week, keeping the total at 379.
With 145 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania Death Registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 48,271.
positivity rate
Center County’s PCR test positivity rate for the week of November 16-22 was 8.9%, up from 8% for the previous seven days, according to the DOH Early Warning Monitoring Dashboard. The rate was the 36th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The nationwide positivity rate was 9.2%, up from 9.3% the previous week.
vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 101,336 people in Center County have completed their primary immunization series, up from 266 since Nov. 16, and 13,511 are partially covered [-114]. Bivalent booster doses were administered to 23,298 county residents [+1,598].
According to the CDC, 74.4% of the county’s total population have received at least one dose, 63.1% have completed their primary vaccination course, and 55.9% have received at least one booster dose. Among adult residents, 79.2% received at least one dose, 67% completed primary vaccination, and 57.8% received a booster dose.
Nationwide, 81.8% of adults and 72.5% of the general population have completed their primary vaccination course, while 49% of adults and 46.5% of the general population have received at least one booster shot.
Vaccination appointments can be made via the pharmacies and providers listed below vaccines.gov.
Vaccine providers are now administering updated 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 immunization series – 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): 10,180 confirmed [+20]1,397 likely [+3]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,407 confirmed [+22]651 probable [+3]
16803 (State College): 4,337 confirmed [+13]855 likely [+1]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,611 confirmed [+9]336 probable [+2]
16802 (University Park): 2,070 confirmed, 314 probable
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,647 confirmed [+8]213 probably
16841 (Howard): 1,288 confirmed [+2]112 likely
16827 (Boalsburg): 1,000 confirmed [+2]126 probably
16828 (Central Hall): 982 confirmed [+3]98 probably [+1]
16875 (Spring Mills): 787 confirmed [+3]83 probably
16844 (Julian): 634 confirmed [+3]58 probably
16845 (Carthus): 560 confirmed, 32 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 344 confirmed [+1]20 probably
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 338 confirmed, 32 probable
16874 (Snowshoe): 326 confirmed, 41 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 291 confirmed [+1].17 probably
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 279 confirmed [+2]29 probably
16820 (Aaronsburg): 216 confirmed [+1]29 probably
16851 (Lemon): 209 confirmed [+1]33 probably
16829 (Clarence): 209 confirmed [+1]25 probably
16854 (Millheim): 208 confirmed, 18 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 193 confirmed [+2]17 probably
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 127 confirmed [+1]13 probably
16859 (Moshannon): 119 confirmed, 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 111 confirmed [+2]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: 33,917 [+53] Low community level
Free field: 23,088 [+59] Low community level
Mifflin: 14,412 [+39] Medium community level
Union: 13,108 [+25] Medium community level
Huntington’s: 13,282 [+38] Medium community level
Clinton: 10,672 [+30] Medium community level