COVID-19 cases, deaths continue to increase at Centre County long-term care facilities
The coronavirus continues to ravage long-term care facilities in Centre County, with the coroner’s office reporting four new deaths among residents on Wednesday.
There have been 517 cases among residents and 89 cases among employees across 16 facilities in Centre County as of Wednesday, according to state Health Department data. It is unclear from state data how the cases are distributed.
There were 472 cases among residents and 76 cases among employees at the end of November.
It’s also unclear how many deaths have been reported at each facility. The Centre County Coroner’s Office identifies deaths attributed to COVID-19 only by ZIP code.
Three of the most recently reported deaths were in residents of a facility in the 16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap) ZIP code. The fourth death was from a facility in the 16866 (Philipsburg) ZIP code, according to a Wednesday press release.
The deaths occurred Nov. 24, Nov. 26, Nov. 27 and Dec. 1.
The state reported 75 of 85 deaths in Centre County have been from long-term care facilities, while 47 of the 71 confirmed by county Coroner Scott Sayers were reported in nursing or personal care homes. The reason for the discrepancy in death totals is unclear.
Forty of the last 45 deaths attributed to COVID-19 by Sayers’ office have been from long-term care facilities.
At Centre Crest in Bellefonte, the facility that has reported the most COVID-19 cases to date, active cases have decreased since Nov. 30.
There were 89 active cases among the nursing and rehabilitation center’s residents as of Monday, Administrator Andrew Naugle wrote in an update posted to Centre Crest’s website. It’s not known how many residents there are; Naugle did not respond to requests for comment.
There were 145 cases among the facility’s 164 residents one week ago, an infection rate of about 88%. There are 27 active cases among 283 employees as of Monday, down from 43 active cases.
Naugle has declined to comment on the number of COVID-19 deaths at the facility.