Penn State sees slight bump in active COVID-19 cases, as overall case total now stands at 4,352
For the eighth time in nine COVID-19 dashboard updates, Penn State saw fewer than 150 new coronavirus cases — although the number of active cases has still increased slightly.
The official case total at University Park now stands at 4,352 after 112 added cases since the last dashboard update, while university estimates put the number of active cases Friday at 329, compared to Tuesday’s 281.
“As the numbers of COVID-19 cases continue to increase across the state and nation, we are seeing this same trend on many of our campuses,” Kelly Wolgast, director of Penn State’s COVID-19 Operations Control Center, said in a written statement.
“With one week left of in-person classes, we must continue to be cautious and follow all public health guidelines for masking, social distancing and avoiding large gatherings. In particular, while students should continue with their normal class routines, we are advising that they self-quarantine as much as they can to reduce the risk of virus exposure before they return home next week.”
From last Friday to Thursday, according to the twice-weekly COVID-19 dashboard update, 163 students tested positive out of the 1,370 on-demand tests with results (with 195 tests since Oct. 23 still pending), while eight students tested positive out of the 2,089 random-screened tests with results (with 252 tests pending). Six new employees tested positive during that same time frame.
Some 62 University Park students are now in on-campus isolation for confirmed infections, while another 42 are in quarantine for potential infections — compared to 48 and 42, respectively, on Tuesday.
Although the commonwealth set another record Friday with the most single-day COVID-19 infections yet — 5,531 — and many counties are seeing worrying increases, the lead investigator of a COVID-19 projection model told the Centre Daily Times last week that he believed Centre County might be better positioned to withstand the pandemic next month. (On Friday, however, the county still saw 131 cases, its highest single-day tally since Sept. 26.)
With Penn State moving to remote instruction Nov. 20, something it’s planned since the start, the de-densification of the county should allow it “to be one of these places that defies the rules a little bit in December,” said Dr. David Rubin, director of PolicyLab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Still, that doesn’t mean there is no concern, even if some numbers offer reason for cautious optimism. According to data provided by the Mount Nittany Medical Center, there are currently 11 COVID-19 patients hospitalized, a notable decrease from last week’s 17. (Hospitalizations more then tripled from September to October, going from 16 to 58. There are 36 so far in November.)
Rubin said last week he expected hospitalizations to decrease at some point before the New Year, with students set to leave the county, but the medical center is still trying to avoid reaching capacity with significant increases around the state. It already last month implemented its Surge Capacity Plan, which called for rescheduling all overnight elective procedures/surgeries, and it announced Friday it would no longer allow hospital visitors except in “select circumstances.”
“The real question, to me, is what’s your plan for January when the students come back?” Rubin asked, adding that any county or hospital progress could be wiped out if the university does not improve upon its fall reopening plan.
That’s been a question by the Penn State community for some time. The university’s Faculty Senate passed a resolution last month, calling on Penn State to provide more COVID-19 testing, greater transparency and universal pre-arrival testing before the spring semester — requests that have been echoed by groups such as the American Association of University Professors and the Coalition for a Just University.
The university has not yet publicly announced its pre-arrival testing plans for a spring semester where classes resume Jan. 19.
“Looking ahead, the return of students in January is going to be incredibly risky given the likelihood that the pandemic will continue to pick up steam over the winter,” Sarah Townsend, an organizer for CJU/PSU, said last week. “CJU is calling on Penn State to a) test all students prior to arrival, and ideally after arrival as well; b) conduct 10% daily surveillance testing; c) acquire CLIA certification of its on-campus lab to ensure accuracy of results and external oversight; and d) vastly improve its testing, quarantine, and reporting protocols.
“We especially want to emphasize that the university should plan now to de-densify the campuses by only bringing back a limited number of students based on its testing capabilities.”
From March to mid-August, before the official Penn State student move-in, the county had 392 total cases of the coronavirus. Since then, it’s added another 4,596 cases — with most coming in the State College area.
Based on the state’s early warning monitoring system, which is updated every Friday and remains clearly impacted by the student population, the county is starting to see key metrics move the wrong way after some good news last week. Centre County’s testing positivity rate rose to 8.4% Friday after reaching 5.6% last week. The county’s incidence rate has also increased to 262.9 infections per 100,000 residents over the last seven days compared to last week’s 146.6.
Despite the increases, unlike earlier this fall, the county is not among the worst-hit counties in the state. Centre County’s positivity rate currently ranks it 40th out of 67 counties, while its incidence rate is 16th.
“(B)e vigilant and thoughtful in consistently practicing preventive measures, including masking, social distancing and frequent hand washing,” added Dr. Nirmal Joshi, chief medical officer of Mount Nittany Health.
Elsewhere at Penn State, on other campuses, the impact of COVID-19 has varied. To date, there have been 447 total cases at campuses outside of the main campus: Altoona (253), Erie (56), Harrisburg (29), Hershey (25), Scranton (15), Abington (13), Berks (12), Mont Alto (10), Schuylkill (7), Brandywine (5), Fayette (4), Hazleton (4), New Kensington (4), Beaver (3), Lehigh Valley (2), York (2), Dickinson Law (1), DuBois (1), and Wilkes-Barre (1). Altoona, which had an outbreak in late September, had nine new cases from Friday to Thursday.
Thirty-eight Penn State employees so far have tested positive through the university: 24 at University Park, four at Altoona, two each at Abington and Erie, and one each at Dickinson Law, Harrisburg, Hershey, Mont Alto, New Kensington and York.
The case counts reported by the county, via the state Department of Health, and Penn State often don’t match up because the university has acknowledged there is some lag between when it reports the numbers to the state DOH and when the state DOH releases the numbers publicly.
Penn State’s next update to its COVID-19 dashboard will occur sometime Tuesday.
