COVID-19 cases on the rise in Centre County, across Pennsylvania

After weeks of declines, COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Centre County and Pennsylvania.

Between last Saturday and Friday, the county reported 19 cases, six more than the previous week.

Statewide, there were 1,994 cases, an increase of 782 compared to the prior seven days.

Centre County has had 16,955 cases overall — 15,453 confirmed and 1,502 — along with 71,900 negative tests. The state Health Department has not reported any COVID deaths in the county since July 2; the total stands at 228.

What’s happening in PA?

Pennsylvania’s case total has reached 1,215,767. Daily totals this week ranged from a low of 133 on Monday to a high of 425 on Thursday. There have been 4,837,348 negative tests, and 97% of people have recovered statewide.

With 49 deaths across the state, the total rose to 27,786. Last week, there were 42 deaths.

What’s the vaccine situation?

Statewide, excluding Philadelphia, 11,388,549 vaccine doses have been given as of Friday. An average of 12,100 people were vaccinated each day this week. That’s a decrease of 300 from the previous seven days. Figures from the state show 5,592,034 people are fully vaccinated.

The state updated its vaccine totals July 9 “to more accurately reflect the number of people who are partially and fully vaccinated,” the Health Department said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Pennsylvania ranks fifth among the states for total doses administered, as of Thursday. Additionally, 61.5% of Pennsylvanians age 18 and older are fully vaccinated, the CDC said. The CDC data covers all 67 counties in the state.

The dashboard shows 150,249 vaccinations have been given in Centre County — 76,790 full and 73,459 partial.

Statewide, hospitalizations continue to trend downward. The number of patients dropped by 48 between July 9 and Friday.

How are positivity rates trending?

Positivity rates in the state and county both rose this week, according to the early warning monitoring system dashboard.

Pennsylvania’s rate rose for the period July 9-Thursday by half a percentage point to 1.7%. Centre County’s rate increased to 1.8% from the previous week’s reading of 1%.

The case rate per 100,000 residents rose to 11.6 statewide. In Centre County, the rate almost doubled to 11.1. Last week’s rates were 7.1 and 6.2, respectively.

This story was originally published July 17, 2021 at 7:00 AM with the headline "COVID-19 cases on the rise in Centre County, across Pennsylvania."