Centre County reports record number of new COVID-19 cases
Centre County added 47 cases of the new coronavirus Wednesday, according to the state Health Department, a single-day record that more than doubled the county’s previous daily high of 20.
The county averaged about 20 cases per week from May until July, but reported an average of 66 cases per week since Aug. 20. Penn State welcomed students back Aug. 17.
There is no reason to believe any of the cases reported Wednesday were the result of an invalid test, DOH spokesperson Nate Wardle wrote in a statement.
Nearly all of the new cases were reported in the State College and University Park ZIP codes.
The breakdown of Centre County cases by ZIP code is as follows, according to the DOH:
- 16801 (State College): 162 confirmed (35 new cases), 18 probable
- 16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 70 (1 new case), 6 probable
- 16803 (State College): 60 (3 new cases), 6 probable
- 16686 (Tyrone): 28, 0 probable
- 16802 (University Park): 26 (10 new cases), 0 probable
- 16866 (Philipsburg): 25, 1-4 probable
- 16875 (Spring Mills): 23, 0 probable
- 16870 (Port Matilda): 21, 1-4 probable
- 16841 (Howard): 20, 1-4 probable
- 16827 (Boalsburg): 16, 0 probable
- 16822 (Beech Creek): 12, 0 probable
- 16828 (Centre Hall): 12, 1-4 probable
- 16666 (Osceola Mills): 8, 1-4 probable
- 16853 (Milesburg): 7, 0 probable
- 16844 (Julian): 6, 0 probable
- 16851 (Lemont): 6, 0 probable
- 16854 (Millheim): 6, 1-4 probable
- 16877 (Warriors Mark): 5 (1 case removed), 0 probable
- 16820 (Aaronsburg): 5, 1-4 probable
- 16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 5, 0 probable
- 16804, 16829, 16832, 16845, 16852, 16860, 16868, 16872, 16874, 16882: 1-4 cases each
The state does not give specific numbers when there are fewer than five cases to protect patient privacy and does not identify exactly where a case occurred in a ZIP code that spans multiple counties.
Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics also announced Wednesday that it had one positive case out of 222 COVID-19 tests administered from Aug. 24-28. That number includes 46 tests from Aug. 17-21 that were not included in last week’s report. Athletics has reported a total of 11 cases since it began testing this summer.
There are 491 confirmed cases in Centre County, along with 47 probable cases, according to the DOH. All 47 cases reported Wednesday were confirmed.
There have been 15,240 negative tests administered in Centre County, an increase of 328 since Tuesday. Three COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in Centre County, according to the DOH.
One patient is hospitalized at Mount Nittany Medical Center, spokesperson Anissa Ilie wrote in a statement.
Pennsylvania added 816 new cases Wednesday, which raised the state’s total to 135,611. The DOH estimated about 82% of Keystone State residents recovered from the disease.
Twenty-one deaths were reported Wednesday, which brought the statewide total to 7,712. Eleven deaths attributed to COVID-19 have been reported in Centre County, with the most recent reported Aug. 14.
The county coroner’s office has confirmed seven deaths.
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 1:05 PM.