Centre County reverts to ‘moderate’ transmission, as COVID-19 cases increase

COVID-19 cases increased once again this week in Centre County and Pennsylvania.

In the county, 83 cases were reported between Saturday and last Friday. That’s 26 more cases than the previous week.

The highest one-day total came on Wednesday, when 21 cases were reported.

Overall, there have been 17,136 cases — 15,600 confirmed and 1,536 probable — along with 73,157 negative tests.

No new deaths were reported; the total remains at 228.

CDC reclassifies county

Centre County moved back into the moderate level of community transmission with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Friday afternoon update.



The day before, the county was placed in the substantial level, the second-highest on the CDC’s community transmission scale. The CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people wear a mask indoors if they live in areas with substantial or high transmission. Clearfield County remained in the substantial level Friday afternoon, while all of the other counties that border Centre were in the moderate level.

The community transmission levels are based on figures from the previous seven days. The CDC placed Centre County in the substantial level Thursday based on case data from July 29-Wednesday. During that period, cases increased by about 67% compared to the week before. Friday’s update covered case data from July 30-Thursday. During that time, cases increased by about 45%.

Level of community transmission is based on the number of cases in the past seven days per 100,000 residents and the number of positive tests in the past seven days.

The state of Pennsylvania is classified under the substantial level. It’s one of a handful of states at that level; the majority of states have high levels of transmission.

‘Steady increase’ in patients

Mount Nittany Medical Center is treating 11 COVID patients between the ages of 42 and 88, health system officials said Friday. Last month, Mount Nittany admitted 37 COVID patients and had a daily average of six patients.

In June, the hospital admitted 40 COVID patients and had a daily average of seven patients.

“We are concerned that we continue to see a steady increase in the number of people hospitalized for COVID, up to a daily average of 10 COVID positive inpatients over the last two weeks. The vast majority of people who have been hospitalized at the (m)edical (c)enter for COVID are not fully vaccinated. The COVID vaccine is highly effective and our best defense to return to normal activities,” Tiffany Cabibbo, Mount Nittany Health chief nursing officer and executive vice president, patient care services, said in a statement. “In addition, we strongly encourage everyone to exercise behaviors to stay safe, including masking, physical distancing, and cleaning your hands often.”

More doses given

Slightly more than 1,100 vaccine doses were given this week to Centre County residents; that’s 95 more doses than were given the previous week. The state dashboard shows 153,264 vaccinations have been administered as of Friday — 78,200 full and 75,064 partial.

The CDC said, as of Friday, 57.2% of Centre County’s total population has received at least one vaccine dose while 49.6% are fully vaccinated. Additionally, 97.6% of residents 65 and older have gotten at least one dose and 87.3% are fully vaccinated.

Where to get vaccines, tests

The state will hold vaccine clinics at Penn State’s Ag Progress Days next week as part of a partnership with the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs, the Wolf administration said Wednesday. The vaccinations will be provided by the Health Department from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday.

Neither registration nor a photo ID is required to get the free vaccine.

“We’re happy some of our member fairs have the ability to accommodate COVID-19 vaccination clinics during their individual fair events and participate in the statewide effort to provide vaccinations in our rural communities,” Harry Reffner, secretary-treasurer of the state fair association, said in a statement.

Vaccine appointments can also be made with Mount Nittany Health at mountnittany.org/coronavirus. Those who are not Mount Nittany patients can also make appointments. Other vaccine providers can be found at vaccines.gov.

The COVID-19 testing site at the Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority Interpretive Center operates 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday at least through Aug. 14. The site is available through a partnership between the state and AMI Expeditionary Healthcare. Testing is free and on a first-come, first-served basis.

Cases rise in PA

Pennsylvania added 9.376 cases between last Saturday and Friday, an increase of 3,851 compared to the previous seven days.

The statewide total stands at 1,233,876 cases as of Friday. There have been 4,949,756 negative tests, and 96% of people have recovered.

There have been 27,898 deaths, an increase of 48. The week before, there were 30 deaths.

The average number of hospitalized patients continues to rise. Since last Friday, the number of total patients increased by almost 200.

Vaccination demand grows

As of Friday, 11,726,105 vaccine doses have been administered statewide, excluding Philadelphia and federal facilities. The number of fully vaccinated people rose to 5,751,738. An average of 13,200 people were vaccinated each day this week, an increase from the previous week when an average of 12,500 people were vaccinated each day.

The CDC said, as of Thursday, Pennsylvania ranks fifth among the states for total doses given, and 63.4% of Keystone State residents 18 and older are fully vaccinated. The CDC figures cover all 67 counties in the state.

Positivity rates rise

Centre County’s positivity rate rose to 4.8% for the period July 30-Thursday, according to the state’s early warning monitoring system dashboard. The previous week’s rate was 3.6%. Pennsylvania’s rate rose to 5.4% from the previous week’s figure of 3.9%.

Cameron County has the lowest rate in Pennsylvania at 0, while Potter County has the highest rate at 16%.

This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Centre County reverts to ‘moderate’ transmission, as COVID-19 cases increase."