March 1 update: Gov. Wolf eases COVID-19 gathering limits; Centre County adds 65 cases

Gov. Tom Wolf loosened restrictions on gatherings Monday amid a decline in COVID-19 cases and growth in the vaccine program across Pennsylvania.

Indoor events are allowed at 15% of a venue’s capacity, while outdoor events can fill 20% of a venue’s capacity, regardless of size. Masking, social distancing and hand washing are all still required.

The Department of Health also ended restrictions on out-of-state travel. Previously, anyone older than 11 who visited from another state had to test negative for COVID-19 or stay in quarantine for two weeks.

“Pennsylvania is taking a measured approach to revising or lifting mitigation orders,” Wolf said in a statement. “The reason we are seeing cases drop can be attributed, in part, to people following the mitigation efforts we have in place. Mask-wearing, social distancing and hand hygiene are making a difference and need to continue even as we see more and more people fully vaccinated. We need to balance protecting public health with leading the state to a robust economic recovery. We are lifting mitigation efforts only when we believe it is safe to do so.”

Centre County vaccinated its highest number of people on Saturday since the program began in December. There were 1,276 first doses and 1,355 second doses given out for a total of 2,631. That’s the first time Centre County cracked the 2,000-dose mark in a day. The second highest number of vaccine doses administered is 1,650, which happened Friday.

Overall, there have been 25,297 first doses and 11,649 second doses given in the county.

Statewide, 2.43 million doses have been administered to 1.69 million people. Starting this week, hospitals across Pennsylvania are receiving the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine, in addition to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the Department of Health said. The state has allocated a total of 3.7 million doses through Saturday (336,870 first doses and 189,410 second doses).

COVID-19 hospitalizations across Pennsylvania are, on average, down about 4,000 from the December peak and are also below the maximum reached in the spring.

Centre County saw its COVID-19 positivity rate rise after falling almost in half the week before.

The county’s rate rose to 7.6% from 4.5% during the period of Feb. 19-Thursday, according to the state Department of Health’s early warning monitoring system dashboard. The previous week’s rate was 4.5%, which followed a rate of 9.2%.

Sullivan County’s positivity rate of 2.1% is the lowest, while Perry County’s 13.2% rate is the highest. Clinton County has the second highest rate at 11.5%.

Centre County reported 138 fewer cases last week compared to the previous week, as the rate of cases per 100,000 residents fell to 127.5, the 10th highest in the state. The previous week, Centre County’s case rate of 208.8 was the third highest.

Union County has the highest rate at 422.9, while Clinton County is second at 201.9.

Pennsylvania’s positivity rate ticked down slightly to 6.3% from 6.5%. The statewide case rate is 101.3 per 100,000 residents, and there were 2,221 fewer cases compared to the previous week (Feb 12-18).

Mount Nittany Medical Center is treating 19 COVID-19 patients between the ages of 20 and 87, a spokesperson said Monday morning. That’s an increase of 10 patients from Friday’s update.

Centre County reported 59 new cases Sunday and six new cases Monday, which brings the total to 12,944 (11,897 confirmed and 1,047 probable). There have been 61,293 negative cases and 209 deaths. The new death was reported Saturday.

Pennsylvania reported a two-day total of 3,573 new cases (1,945 on Sunday and 1,628 on Monday) to bring the total to 933,270 just days from the pandemic’s one-year mark in the state. The state reported its first COVID-19 case on March 6, 2020. There have been 3.89 million negative tests and 91% of people with the virus have recovered statewide.

The state added 26 deaths over the weekend (21 reported Sunday and five reported Monday), as well as 132 deaths Saturday.

The breakdown of confirmed Centre County cases by ZIP code, and the change from Friday (if any), is as follows, according to the Health Department:

• 16801 (State College): 4,692 (+43)
• 16823 (Bellefonte/Pleasant Gap): 2,186 (+11)
• 16803 (State College): 1,132 (+18)
• 16686 (Tyrone): 918 (+9)
• 16802 (University Park): 823 (+9)
• 16866 (Philipsburg): 743 (+9)
• 16870 (Port Matilda): 386 (+5)
• 16841 (Howard): 329 (+3)
• 16845 (Karthaus): 254
• 16828 (Centre Hall): 237
• 16875 (Spring Mills): 228
• 16827 (Boalsburg): 223
• 16822 (Beech Creek): 168 (+3)
• 16844 (Julian): 167 (+2)
• 16666 (Osceola Mills): 150 (+1)
• 16853 (Milesburg): 114
• 16877 (Warriors Mark): 92 (+2)
• 16874 (Snow Shoe): 91
• 16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 73
• 16826 (Blanchard): 62 (+1)
• 16854 (Millheim): 59 (+1)
• 16829 (Clarence): 55
• 16872 (Rebersburg): 53
• 16820 (Aaronsburg): 48
• 16851 (Lemont): 46
• 16859 (Moshannon): 42
• 16856 (Mingoville): 28
• 16832 (Coburn): 24
• 16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 24 (+1)
• 16677 (Sandy Ridge): 22
• 16860 (Munson): 20
• 16852 (Madisonburg): 17
• 16864 (Orviston): 13 (+1)
• 16835 (Unionville): 11
• 16804 (State College): 8
• 16882 (Woodward): 8

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

The state removed two nursing home resident cases from Centre County’s total on Saturday and added eight on Monday. In all, there have been 707 resident cases, 147 employee cases and 158 deaths in 18 long-term care facilities in the county.

Across Pennsylvania, there have been 66,936 resident cases, 13,073 employee cases and 12,454 resident deaths at 1,567 nursing and personal care homes.

This story was originally published March 1, 2021 at 12:37 PM with the headline "March 1 update: Gov. Wolf eases COVID-19 gathering limits; Centre County adds 65 cases."