Centre County reports 94 new cases of COVID-19, one new death
A ninth death attributed to the new coronavirus was confirmed Thursday by the Centre County Coroner’s Office.
A 90-year-old woman died Wednesday at Mount Nittany Medical Center, county Coroner Scott Sayers and hospital spokesperson Anissa Ilie said Thursday.
The woman’s death was the second attributed to COVID-19 by the coroner’s office since Sept. 30. Ages have ranged from 74 to 101.
The state Department of Health also reported one new death Thursday in Centre County, pushing its count to 12. It was the first COVID-19-related death reported by the DOH since mid-August.
The precise reason for the weekslong discrepancy remains unclear, but the DOH has said it may be because of different reporting practices.
The department identifies deaths by county of legal residence, not by where the death happened. Coroners may identify deaths by where they happened, which is not used for public health practices, according to DOH spokesperson Nate Wardle.
“We know that there are many large hospitals in the state, and so to identify deaths by the jurisdiction in which an individual dies would skew the data reporting,” Wardle wrote.
Centre County added 94 cases of the disease Thursday, pushing the county’s tally to 3,291 since a case was first reported March 20.
Six patients are being treated for COVID-19 at Mount Nittany Medical Center as of Thursday, according to DOH.
Nearly all of the cases reported Thursday were in State College or University Park ZIP codes, a weekslong trend. All were confirmed.
There have been 30,011 negative tests administered in Centre County, an increase of 578 since Wednesday.
The breakdown of Centre County cases by ZIP code is as follows, according to the DOH:
- 16801 (State College): 2,067 confirmed (56 new cases), 29 probable
- 16802 (University Park): 504 (18 new cases), 1-4 probable
- 16803 (State College): 221 (6 new cases), 9 probable
- 16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 108 (5 new cases), 10 probable
- 16686 (Tyrone): 41 (1 new case), 1-4 probable
- 16870 (Port Matilda): 30 (1 new case), 1-4 probable
- 16866 (Philipsburg): 29, 1-4 probable
- 16827 (Boalsburg): 29 (1 new case), 0 probable
- 16841 (Howard): 27, 1-4 probable
- 16875 (Spring Mills): 26, 0 probable
- 16853 (Milesburg): 20 (1 new case), 0 probable
- 16828 (Centre Hall): 17 (1 new case), 1-4 probable
- 16822 (Beech Creek): 14, 0 probable
- 16851 (Lemont): 10, 0 probable
- 16845 (Karthaus): 8, 0 probable
- 16666 (Osceola Mills): 8, 1-4 probable
- 16820 (Aaronsburg): 8 (1 new case), 1-4 probable
- 16854 (Millheim): 7, 1-4 probable
- 16877 (Warriors Mark): 7, 0 probable
- 16844 (Julian): 7 (1 new case), 0 probable
- 16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 5, 0 probable
- 16872 (Rebersburg): 5, 1-4 probable
- 16804, 16826, 16829, 16832, 16852, 16856, 16860, 16868, 16874, 16882: 1-4 cases each
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.
The Keystone State added 1,376 cases Thursday, the highest number of single-day confirmed coronavirus infections since April. The statewide total is now 167,928. An estimated 81% of patients recovered statewide, according to the DOH.
Pennsylvania has recorded 8,299 deaths attributed to COVID-19, an increase of 27 since Wednesday. About two-thirds of COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania have been reported in nursing or personal care facilities.
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 12:47 PM.