Jan. 11 update: Centre County adds 133 weekend COVID-19 cases; Pa. positivity rate falls

Centre County reported 133 COVID-19 cases over the weekend (91 on Sunday and 42 on Monday) to bring the total to 9,785 on Monday. There have been 9,159 confirmed cases and 626 probable cases, along with 53,695 negative tests.

Three deaths were added to Centre County’s total, which stands at 153. The county coroner has confirmed 108 deaths.

Mount Nittany Medical Center is treating 37 COVID-19 patients between ages 28 and 99, a spokesperson said Monday morning. That’s four fewer patients than Friday’s update.

The state’s hospital dashboard, which also includes rehabilitation facilities, shows 41 people are being treated for COVID-19 in Centre County. Eight of those patients are in the intensive care unit and six are on ventilators.

The five ZIP codes that cover Centre County with the highest number of confirmed cases is as follows, according to the Health Department:

• 16801 (State College): 3,539
• 16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 1,681
• 16802 (University Park): 795
• 16803 (State College): 779
• 16686 (Tyrone): 750

The state does not identify exactly where a case occurred in a ZIP code that spans multiple counties, such as 16686.

Pennsylvania added 12,844 cases to bring the statewide total to 726,154. There have been 3.39 million negative tests, and an estimated 74% of people have recovered. The Health Department said Monday’s total of 5,338 new cases is low because of server maintenance.

There have been 17,853 deaths across the state, an increase of 186 from Saturday.

Statewide, 5,201 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 — 117 fewer patients than on Saturday — and 1,062 of those patients are being treated in the intensive care unit.

The state’s positivity rate fell to 14.4% from 15%, according to the early warning dashboard. All 67 counties are in the substantial level of transmission and all have positivity rates above 5%.

In Centre County, the positivity rate rose to 12.5% from 12.1%. Cambria County has the state’s lowest rate at 10.2%, while Clinton County has the highest at 28.1%.

Gov. Tom Wolf said he was “grateful” to see the positivity rate decrease but reminded residents to maintain safety measures.

“As Pennsylvanians travel within their communities, I want to take the opportunity to remind them to stay safe by wearing a mask, social distancing and avoiding gatherings of people,” Wolf said in a statement. “If you travel somewhere where they are not doing so, I encourage you to make the right choice to leave.”

The Health Department said Monday that 285,671 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across the state. That total includes 2,505 partial vaccinations and 514 full vaccinations in Centre County. On Sunday, 46 full vaccinations and five partial vaccinations were given in the county.

(A partial vaccination refers to only the first dose, while a full vaccination means a person has received both doses of the vaccine.)

On Monday, five new cases were reported in residents and one case in employees of Centre County personal care facilities. In all, there have been 621 resident cases, 133 employee cases and 128 deaths in 16 nursing and personal care homes in the county.

Statewide, there have been 57,376 resident cases, 10,567 employee cases and 9,383 resident deaths at 1,495 long-term care facilities.

This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 12:32 PM.