Penn State sets 12-month high with weekly COVID cases, following local and national trends
Penn State experienced a 12-month high with 394 weekly COVID cases last week, following similar record-breaking trends at both the local and national levels, based on data released Tuesday.
According to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard, 279 students and 115 employees at University Park tested positive between Jan. 3-9, breaking the previous 12-month high of 326 weekly cases from last January. On Monday, another 102 tested positive.
With students returning from winter break, and with classes starting Monday, university officials said the increase was anticipated.
“The current positivity rate is aligned with our expectations as we are seeing rates rise across the commonwealth and the country from the omicron variant,” said Kelly Wolgast, director of Penn State’s COVID-19 Operations Control Center. “Like the testing over winter break, we are seeing more symptomatic students and close contacts seeking testing, so a higher positivity rate is more likely and was anticipated.
“We are closely monitoring the numbers, as well as local, state and national trends, and at this time we believe we can maintain in-person classes and other activities, while protecting the health and safety of our community. However, we are continuing to make contingency plans should circumstances change and require us to curtail some activities or make adjustments to our current strategies.”
Last week’s case total was the first time University Park surpassed 200 weekly cases since April 2021. The highest case total this past fall was 196, from the first week in September. Testing positivity while Penn State remained in session during the fall usually hovered below 2% and never rose above 5.2%.
Since Dec. 20, when the university first announced detecting the omicron variant on campus, University Park’s weekly testing positivity rate hasn’t dipped below 10%.
Penn State’s increase is hardly an anomaly. Since Jan. 1, Centre County has experienced six of its seven highest single-day case totals since the pandemic started. The county’s most recent weekly positivity rate, from Dec. 31 to Jan. 6, stood at 30.7% — more than triple University Park’s most recent rate of 10.1%.
Nationally, the U.S. also set a single-day record Monday with 1.35 million new coronavirus infections.
While other colleges and universities, like Pitt, chose to move to remote learning for the first few weeks of the spring semester to avoid the pandemic’s potential peak, Penn State opted to move forward with its original plan of in-person learning. University President Eric Barron said they believed they could do so “safely but carefully,” which drew ire from many students and faculty.
Nearly 90% of Penn State students and employees have told the university they’re vaccinated.
The university’s weekly caseload is still a far cry from its own peak, before the vaccine, when weekly cases approached 700 in fall 2020.
Penn State will update its COVID dashboard every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the semester. It can be found at virusinfo.psu.edu/covid-19-dashboard/.
