Dec. 11 update: Centre County breaks daily COVID-19 record, but state DOH has explanation
Centre County shattered its previous record for daily COVID-19 cases with 302 reported infections Friday — the most since Sept. 15, when 212 infections were reported — although a state official said that number could partially be the result of a recent testing hiccup.
According to Nate Wardle, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health, a large (and unnamed) health care provider in central Pennsylvania recently sent away tests elsewhere due to volume. Because those tests had the address of the ordering physician, and not the residences of the patients, those tests were not counted in Centre County’s totals and were instead initially counted toward another county.
Montour County, which had 1,285 cases on Thursday, saw those cases reduced to 659 Friday. Centre County now has 7,456 total cases — 7,086 confirmed and 370 probable.
“The department worked with the health care provider to address this, and those updates have occurred in regard to patient address,” Wardle said in an email to the CDT.
Even without the record increase, Centre County has still experienced a significant recent surge in cases and hospitalizations. Over the previous six days — not counting Friday — Centre County averaged about 83 new daily cases, compared to an average of 70 daily cases at this point last month, before Penn State shifted to remote instruction.
A Mount Nittany Health spokesperson also reported Friday the hospital is now treating 47 COVID-19 patients between the ages of 35 and 91. So far this month, there have been 75 hospitalizations with an average of 39 inpatients per day. In November, the hospital averaged 22 inpatients per day and, in October, that number stood at 11.
“The daily number of COVID positive patients in the hospital have consistently been at or near 40 this month, with numbers reaching close to 50 in the last several days,” said Dr. Nirmal Joshi, chief medical officer at Mount Nittany Health. “Because we anticipate that these numbers will continue to grow in the next few weeks, we are operating under our surge capacity plan and evaluating further necessary adjustments to services to help ensure that we have the resources to care for patients with COVID and others that require medical and emergency attention.”
Across Pennsylvania, 5,877 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 and 1,218 are in intensive care, the health department said. Some 12,745 new cases were also reported in the commonwealth Friday, raising the statewide case total to 470,034.
The state announced 225 new deaths Friday to bring the total to 12,235 since the pandemic began. In Centre County, six new deaths were reported by the state Department of Health. (To date, the state has reported 96 county deaths while the county coroner has reported 71, a disparity that can at least be partially attributed to the state counting deaths based on the person’s permanent residence and not where they died.)
According to the state’s early warning monitoring system, which is updated every Friday, there remains obvious cause for concern in Centre County. The county’s testing positivity rate rose slightly to 12.9%, from 12.6% last week. It also watched its incidence rate — the number of infections per 100,000 people over the last seven days — rise to 413.4, up from last week’s 355.
A positivity rate greater than 10% is widely considered highly problematic and, so far, 65 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are above that threshold, with the state’s overall positivity at 16.2%. Centre County’s numbers remain high, but they’re still on the lower end of the commonwealth; the county is ranked 55th in testing positivity and 47th in incidence rate, respectively.
The breakdown of confirmed Centre County cases by ZIP code is as follows, according to the DOH:
- 16801 (State College): 3,227 (32 new cases)
- 16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 1,029 (100 new cases)
- 16802 (University Park): 789
- 16803 (State College): 531 (14 new cases)
- 16686 (Tyrone): 462 (18 new cases)
- 16866 (Philipsburg): 341 (24 new cases)
- 16870 (Port Matilda): 169 (22 new cases)
- 16841 (Howard): 143 (19 new cases)
- 16828 (Centre Hall): 117 (5 new cases)
- 16845 (Karthaus): 107 (38 new cases)
- 16875 (Spring Mills): 107 (6 new cases)
- 16827 (Boalsburg): 89 (8 new cases)
- 16822 (Beech Creek): 73 (13 new cases)
- 16853 (Milesburg): 57 (5 new cases)
- 16874 (Snow Shoe): 55 (3 new cases)
- 16666 (Osceola Mills): 53 (3 new cases)
- 16844 (Julian): 52 (12 new cases)
- 16877 (Warriors Mark): 51
- 16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 38 (3 new cases)
- 16854 (Millheim): 30 (2 new cases)
- 16872 (Rebersburg): 29 (1 new case)
- 16829 (Clarence): 28 (1 new case)
- 16851 (Lemont): 28 (3 new cases)
- 16820 (Aaronsburg): 27
- 16826 (Blanchard): 25 (3 new cases)
- 16859 (Moshannon): 22 (5 new cases)
- 16856 (Mingoville): 14 (2 new cases)
- 16860 (Munson): 13 (2 new cases)
- 16832 (Coburn): 12 (2 new cases)
- 16677 (Sandy Ridge): 10
- 16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 10 (1 new case)
- 16852 (Madisonburg): 8 (1 new case)
- 16804 (State College): 7
- 16835 (Unionville): 6 (1 new case)
- 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.
At other institutions around Centre County, news is mixed. With Penn State shifting to remote instruction after Thanksgiving break, case levels have remained manageable with 54 new cases (45 students, nine employees) at University Park since Dec. 4, with fewer than 200 test results pending. There are currently 90 estimated active cases, with fewer than five students quarantining or isolating on-campus.
Since last Friday, at the county’s long-term care facilities, there have been 19 new cases among residents and a dozen new cases among staff, bringing the COVID-19 infection totals to 516 resident cases and 95 employee cases. Sixteen nursing or personal care homes have reported a case.
The state Department of Health will provide its next daily update around noon Saturday.
“Again, it is absolutely necessary that we consistently practice preventive measures, including social distancing, masking and frequent hand washing in order to mitigate the spread of the virus,” Joshi said. “Please do your part to help our hospital and our community.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 12:30 PM.
