Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 community levels in Pennsylvania as of Nov. 19, 2022. Image via Centers for Disease Control.
Centre County remained at the low community level for COVID-19 for the ninth consecutive week, 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.
As statewide cases and hospitalizations declined, just one of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties —Mercer — is at the high level, three fewer than last week. Thirty-nine are at the low level [+8] and 27 are at medium [-5].
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 80.67 per 100,000 people (up from 73.9 last week) and 8.1 new COVID admissions per 100,000 (unchanged), with 4.5% of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients (up from 4.2%).
Mount Nittany Medical Center had 12 COVID-19 inpatients on Friday, according to its inpatient dashboard, with none in intensive care or on ventilators. The patients range in age from 67 to 90. For the week of Nov. 12-18, Mount Nittany had an average daily COVID inpatient census of 11.4, up from 8 last week.
As of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest weekly update on Wednesday, 1,137 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, 124 fewer than a week ago, with 137 in intensive care [-26] and 61 on ventilators [+3].
Centre County added 131 reported new cases in the last week, 11 more than the previous seven days, according to DOH data.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases is 18.7, up from 17.1.
The county has had a total of 42,155 COVID-19 cases (37,568 confirmed and 4,587 probable) since March 2020.
Pennsylvania registered 9,953 reported new positives over the last week, a 19% decrease from new cases a week ago. The rolling seven-day average of 1,422 is down from 1,744 the prior week.
The statewide case total since the start of the pandemic is now 3,340,015.
Deaths
DOH recorded two new deaths attributed to the virus among Centre County residents in the last week, bringing the total to 379.
With 132 new COVID-19 deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry in the last week, the statewide total is now 48,126.
Pennsylvania and Centre County COVID-19 dashboard for Nov. 16, 2022. Image via Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Positivity rate
Centre County’s PCR testing positivity rate for the week of Nov. 9-15 was 8%, unchanged the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The rate was 20th lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The statewide positivity rate was 9.3%, down from 10.5% the prior week.
Vaccinations
As of Wednesday morning, 101,070 people in Centre County have completed the primary vaccination series, an increase of 256 since Nov. 9, and 13,625 are partially covered [-141]. Bivalent booster doses have been administered to 21,700 county residents [+1,465].
Among the county’s entire population, 74.3% have received at least one dose, 63% have completed the primary vaccine series and 55.8% have received at least one booster, according to the CDC. Among adult residents, 79.1% have received at least one dose, 66.9% have completed the primary series and 57.7% have received a booster.
Statewide, 81.7% of adults and 72.3% of the total population have completed the primary series, while at least one booster dose has been administered to 48.9% of adults and 46.4% 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): 10,160 confirmed [+19], 1,394 probable [+1]
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 7,385 confirmed [+25], 648 probable [+2]
16803 (State College): 4,324 confirmed [+6], 854 probable [+5]
16866 (Philipsburg): 2,602 confirmed [+45], 334 probable
16802 (University Park): 2,070 confirmed [+1], 314 probable [+1]
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,639 confirmed [+4], 213 probable
16841 (Howard): 1,286 confirmed [+3], 112 probable [+1]
16827 (Boalsburg): 998 confirmed [+8], 126 probable [+1]
16828 (Centre Hall): 979 confirmed [+1], 97 probable
16875 (Spring Mills): 784 confirmed [+5], 83 probable
16844 (Julian): 631 confirmed [+1], 58 probable
16845 (Karthaus): 560 confirmed, 32 probable
16853 (Milesburg): 343 confirmed, 20 probable
16877 (Warrior’s Mark): 338 confirmed, 32 probable
16874 (Snow Shoe): 326 confirmed [+1], 41 probable
16826 (Blanchard): 290 confirmed [+1],17 probable
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 277 confirmed [+1], 29 probable
16820 (Aaronsburg): 215 confirmed, 29 probable
16851 (Lemont): 208 confirmed, 33 probable
16829 (Clarence): 208 confirmed, 25 probable
16854 (Millheim): 208 confirmed [+1], 18 probable
16872 (Rebersburg): 191 confirmed, 17 probable
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 126 confirmed, 13 probable
16859 (Moshannon): 119 confirmed [+1], 6 probable
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 109 confirmed, 6 probable
16832 (Coburn): 105 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): 23 confirmed [+1], 1-4 confirmed
16863 (Orviston): 22 confirmed
16805 (State College): 1-4 confirmed
Cases among Centre County’s bordering counties
Blair: 33,864 [+48] Low Community Level
Clearfield: 23,029 [+74] Low Community Level
Mifflin: 14,373 [+44] Medium Community Level
Union: 13,083 [+24] Medium Community Level
Huntingdon: 13,244 [+33] Medium Community Level
Clinton: 10,642 [+41] Medium Community Level
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