April 9 update: Centre County adds 77 COVID-19 cases; Pa. reports 5,000-plus positives

Centre County added 77 cases of COVID-19 on Friday to bring the total to 15,136. Overall, there have been 13,814 confirmed cases and 1,322 probable cases along with 65,792 negative tests.

Pennsylvania reported 5,048 new cases, which brings the total to 1,064,092. There have been 4.21 million negative tests and 90% of people have recovered statewide.

There have been 6.06 million vaccine doses given to 4.02 million people across the state (excluding Philadelphia and federal facilities). Pennsylvania ranks sixth among all states for total doses administered, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Thursday, the state ranked fifth. The state is 19th for first doses given by percentage of population (35.6% of the eligible population), which is five spots below Thursday’s ranking.

Acting state Health Secretary Alison Beam on Friday asked Pennsylvanians to attend scheduled vaccine appointments and cancel unnecessary appointments so doses do not go to waste.

“All three available vaccines are safe and effective, and we need folks to get the first available vaccine,” Beam said. “If you have scheduled appointments at numerous places as part of your attempt to get vaccinated, please remember to call those other locations and cancel the remaining appointments. You can let them know that you have been vaccinated.

“Each time someone is a no-show for an appointment, it increases the chances of a dose of vaccine being wasted if the appointment cannot be refilled by someone else who has not yet been vaccinated.”

The Health Department said in a statement that providers try to ensure doses are prepared for each appointment, so if someone doesn’t show up, their dose already has been removed from storage and usually has to be used that day.

“Vaccine dose waste is very low – less than one-tenth of one percentage point and missed appointments are thought to be a cause of some waste, not to mention that an unfilled appointment means one less person getting vaccinated in a timely manner,” the Health Department said.

In Centre County, 50,842 partial vaccinations and 33,596 full vaccinations have been given to 52,823 residents. Mount Nittany Health has given more than 33,000 vaccinations and has more than 4,000 appointments scheduled.

The state’s vaccine program will expand to Phase 1C starting Monday.

Statewide, hospitalizations have been steadily increasing over the past three weeks, with almost 1,000 more patients.

Locally, Mount Nittany Medical Center is treating 25 COVID-19 patients between the ages of 22 and 89, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Upendra Thaker said Friday. That’s an increase of two patients from Thursday’s update. This month, there have been 37 admissions due to COVID with an average daily count of 22.

“We continue to see our highest number of COVID related hospitalizations since before the pandemic, and are very concerned with this trend.,” Thaker said in Mount Nittany Health’s weekly update.

The increase in hospitalizations led Mount Nittany last week to restrict visitors, and the health system remains prepared to adjust services, if necessary, Thaker said.

Thaker asked the community to maintain safety measures such as avoiding social gatherings, wearing a mask and washing hands often. “These measures have been proven to help stop the spread of COVID-19, and we need the entire community to do its part. We cannot do this alone.”

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

• 16801 (State College): 5,213 (+25)
• 16823 (Bellefonte/Pleasant Gap): 2,452 (+7)
• 16803 (State College): 1,317 (+7)
• 16802 (University Park): 1,244 (+9)
• 16686 (Tyrone): 984 (+4)
• 16866 (Philipsburg): 805 (+3)
• 16870 (Port Matilda): 468 (+4)
• 16841 (Howard): 391 (+5)
• 16828 (Centre Hall): 275 (+5)
• 16827 (Boalsburg): 266 (+2)
• 16845 (Karthaus): 263
• 16875 (Spring Mills): 259 (+2)
• 16822 (Beech Creek): 194
• 16844 (Julian): 190 (+1)
• 16666 (Osceola Mills): 184
• 16853 (Milesburg): 127 (+2)
• 16877 (Warriors Mark): 108
• 16874 (Snow Shoe): 98
• 16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 82 (+1)
• 16826 (Blanchard): 75
• 16829 (Clarence): 67
• 16854 (Millheim): 64
• 16872 (Rebersburg): 62 (+1)
• 16851 (Lemont): 55
• 16820 (Aaronsburg): 49
• 16859 (Moshannon): 43
• 16856 (Mingoville): 29
• 16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 28
• 16677 (Sandy Ridge): 26
• 16832 (Coburn): 26
• 16860 (Munson): 26
• 16852 (Madisonburg): 18
• 16864 (Orviston): 13
• 16835 (Unionville): 13
• 16804 (State College): 10
• 16882 (Woodward): 9
• 16805 (State College): 1-4

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.

In Centre County nursing/personal care homes, one resident case was added while two employee cases were removed. There have been 724 resident cases, 154 employee cases and 162 deaths at 18 long-term care facilities.



Pennsylvania added 35 deaths to bring the total to 25,362. Centre County’s count remained at 213.

This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 12:48 PM.