Dec. 4 update: Pa. adds 11,000-plus COVID-19 cases for second day; Centre County adds 119
Centre County averaged 82.5 daily cases of the coronavirus in the past two weeks, up nearly 11 daily cases from the previous two-week period.
The county added 119 cases of COVID-19 Friday, which brought the total to 6,657. There have been 6,338 confirmed cases since March 20 and 47,914 negative tests, according to state Health Department data. There are 319 probable cases.
The county’s positivity rate increased from 5.8% to 12.6%. Pennsylvania’s positivity rate is 14.4%, according to the state’s early warning dashboard. The state’s rate stood at 11.7% from Nov. 20 through Nov. 26.
Pennsylvania added a record 11,763 cases, bringing its total to 398,600. The previous highest daily increase was 11,406 cases, which was reported Thursday.
Mount Nittany Medical Center treated 35 COVID-19 patients Friday, ranging in age from 33 to 91, a spokesperson said.
There have been 18 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital in December, with an average of 39 patients per day. The health care system treated 143 patients in November and 58 patients in October.
Chief Medical Officer Nirmal Joshi acknowledged in a written statement that “providing care for this many patients continues to be a challenge for the health system and for our staff.”
“It is absolutely necessary that we consistently practice preventive measures, including social distancing, masking and frequent hand washing,” Joshi said. “We expect to see numbers continue to climb if we do not collectively take steps to mitigate the spread of the virus. Please do your part to help all of us get safely to the other side of the pandemic.”
The county coroner’s office has confirmed at least 67 deaths attributed to the coronavirus, ranging in age from 55 to 104. The state Health Department attributes 73 deaths to COVID-19, up five from Thursday.
The breakdown of confirmed Centre County cases by ZIP code is as follows, according to the DOH:
- 16801 (State College): 3,118 (18 new cases)
16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 807 (29 new cases)
- 16802 (University Park): 787 (1 case removed)
- 16803 (State College): 476 (8 new cases)
- 16686 (Tyrone): 339 (12 new cases)
- 16866 (Philipsburg): 262 (19 new cases)
- 16870 (Port Matilda): 112 (7 new cases)
- 16841 (Howard): 99 (14 new cases)
- 16828 (Centre Hall): 89 (7 new cases)
- 16875 (Spring Mills): 84 (2 new cases)
- 16827 (Boalsburg): 71 (1 new case)
- 16845 (Karthaus): 63 (2 new cases)
- 16822 (Beech Creek): 47 (1 new case)
- 16666 (Osceola Mills): 43 (2 new cases)
- 16853 (Milesburg): 44 (3 new cases)
- 16877 (Warriors Mark): 40 (6 new cases)
- 16874 (Snow Shoe): 37 (5 new cases)
- 16844 (Julian): 31 (1 new case)
- 16851 (Lemont): 31 (8 new cases)
- 16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 28 (5 new cases)
- 16872 (Rebersburg): 26 (3 new cases)
- 16820 (Aaronsburg): 24 (2 new cases)
- 16854 (Millheim): 24 (3 new cases)
- 16829 (Clarence): 20 (3 new cases)
- 16826 (Blanchard): 14 (1 new case)
- 16860 (Munson): 11
16859 (Moshannon): 11 (2 new cases)
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 11 (3 new cases)
- 16832 (Coburn): 10 (1 new case)
- 16856 (Mingoville): 9
- 16677 (Sandy Ridge): 8
- 16804 (State College): 7
- 16835 (Unionville): 5
- 16852 (Madisonburg): 5
- 16864, 16882: 1-4 cases each
The state does not provide 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.
There have been 497 cases among long-term care facility residents and 83 cases among employees. Sixteen nursing or personal care homes have reported a case.
About 60% of the state’s 11,113 deaths have been reported in long-term care facilities.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 12:31 PM.