Dec. 7 update: Pa. adds almost 15,000 weekend COVID-19 cases; Centre County reports 136

Pennsylvania reported almost 15,000 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend, the state Department of Health said Monday.

The state added 14,960 new cases (8,630 on Sunday and 6,330 on Monday) to bring the total to 426,444. There have been 2.94 million negative tests, and an estimated 58% of people have recovered statewide.

There have been 11,373 deaths, including 111 new fatalities reported since Saturday.

Centre County added 136 cases over the weekend (113 on Sunday and 23 on Monday), which raises the total to 6,889. Overall, there have been 6,552 confirmed cases and 337 probable cases, in addition to 48,578 negative tests.

Mount Nittany Medical Center is treating 38 COVID-19 patients between the ages of 35 and 96, a spokesperson said Monday morning. The state’s dashboard, which also includes rehabilitation facilities, indicates there are 39 hospitalized patients in Centre County, with two in intensive care and one on a ventilator.

Across Pennsylvania, there are 5,300 people hospitalized with COVID-19, and 1,107 are in the intensive care unit.

The Health Department counts 79 Centre County deaths, an increase of two since Saturday. The county coroner’s office has confirmed 67 deaths.

The state’s early warning monitoring dashboard shows the positivity rate rose to 14.4% last week from 11.7% the previous week. Every county has a “concerning” positivity rate above 5%, the governor’s office said in a press release Monday. Nine counties, including Mifflin and Juniata, are at 20% or higher.

Centre County’s rate rose to 12.6% from 5.9% even as the number of new confirmed cases dropped by more than 100 during the same time period.

As of Thursday, the state’s seven-day case increase was 48,668, an increase of 5,955 new cases compared to the previous week.

“The latest update continues to show the effect COVID-19 is having in Pennsylvania,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement. “The mitigation steps in place are necessary to prevent our health system from being overrun. We are approaching that point, which is why we need all Pennsylvanians to follow these measures as part of their collective responsibility to protect one another and the health system.”

Every county in the state except Cameron is considered to be in the substantial level of community transmission, which means the state recommends schools use full remote learning methods. Centre County has been at this level since the beginning of September.

Transmission level is reported weekly by the state based on incidence rate per 100,000 residents and/.or percent positivity rate. At the substantial level, incidence rate must be at least 100 or the positivty rate must be at least 10%. (Centre County’s incidence rate is 306.5.)

The breakdown of confirmed Centre County cases by ZIP code is as follows, according to the DOH:

• 16801 (State College): 3,157 (32 new cases since Saturday)
• 16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 874 (40 new cases)
• 16802 (University Park): 787 (1 fewer case)
• 16803 (State College): 489 (4 new cases)
• 16686 (Tyrone): 379 (31 new cases)
• 16866 (Philipsburg): 282 (13 new cases)
• 16870 (Port Matilda): 122 (7 new cases)
• 16841 (Howard): 109 (6 new cases)
• 16828 (Centre Hall): 98 (6 new cases)
• 16875 (Spring Mills): 93 (4 new cases)
• 16827 (Boalsburg): 77 (6 new cases)
• 16845 (Karthaus): 67 (3 new cases)
• 16822 (Beech Creek): 52 (1 new case)
• 16853 (Milesburg): 49 (2 new cases)
• 16666 (Osceola Mills): 46 (2 new cases)
• 16877 (Warriors Mark): 46 (3 new cases)
• 16874 (Snow Shoe): 44 (4 new cases)
• 16844 (Julian): 34 (4 new cases)
• 16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 32 (3 new cases)
• 16854 (Millheim): 27
• 16872 (Rebersburg): 27 (1 new case)
• 16820 (Aaronsburg): 25
• 16851 (Lemont): 23
• 16829 (Clarence): 22 (2 new cases)
• 16826 (Blanchard): 20 (2 new cases)
• 16859 (Moshannon): 14 (2 new cases)
• 16860 (Munson): 11
• 16832 (Coburn): 10
• 16856 (Mingoville): 10 (1 new case)
• 16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 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.

Since Saturday, there have been 22 new COVID-19 cases in residents of Centre County long-term care facilities and three new cases in employees. In all, there have been 520 resident cases, 88 employee cases and 66 deaths at 16 nursing and personal care homes in the county.

The age breakdown of those who tested positive statewide is:

• Approximately 1% are 0-4
• Nearly 3% are 5-12
• Approximately 5% are 13-18
• Approximately 12% are 19-24
• 37% are 25-49
• Nearly 22% are 50-64
• Nearly 20% are 65 or older

This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 12:35 PM.