Penn State COVID cases see significant drop but remain high, following local and statewide trends
A week after nearly reaching a pandemic high, Penn State experienced a significant drop in weekly COVID cases — with nearly half the number of cases compared to the week before — although infections still remain high, according to the university’s COVID dashboard.
Based on university data from Jan. 24-30, which was updated Tuesday, University Park experienced 333 weekly coronavirus cases. That number is still the fourth-highest weekly total over the last 12 months, but it’s also a steep decrease compared to the 631 cases reported from Jan. 17-23.
“We are encouraged that the numbers are tracking about as we expected and are declining in Pennsylvania and within our campus communities, according to our dashboard data,” Kelly Wolgast, director of Penn State’s COVID-19 Operations Control Center, said in a written statement. “We understand, however, that with the increasing availability of at-home testing, we may not be aware of the true number of individuals who are testing positive.
“The important thing is that people, including those in our communities, are becoming more adept at how to prevent the spread of the virus, which includes the continued use of face masks while indoors. We ask our students and employees to share test information from outside testing resources so that we can offer the appropriate student and employee support that is needed at this time. Employees who test positive should notify their supervisors and students who test positive can submit test results through myUHS.”
The 333 weekly cases are the fewest positive cases at University Park since the spring semester started. Penn State’s flagship campus opened the semester with 434 weekly cases and then saw increases to 539 and 631 weekly infections, respectively, until the most recent week. Prior to January, Penn State last saw a weekly case count exceed 300 in March 2021.
The university’s latest data reflects wider trends in both Centre County and the commonwealth. A week ago, both Wolgast and Pennsylvania’s acting secretary of health in Keara Klinepeter acknowledged that the omicron variant could have finally peaked — and recent data suggests it has certainly trended that way.
In Centre County, weekly cases from Jan. 24-30 fell about 33% compared to the previous week. And, in Pennsylvania, infections fell about 25% during that same timeframe. Positivity rates are also down, in another sign the worst of the omicron surge might be over.
“We are glad to see case numbers trending downward and healthcare workers on the frontlines are starting to get the support they need and deserve,” Klinepeter said Tuesday in a written statement. “We have the tools to ensure those trends continue and can demonstrate support for healthcare workers by encouraging more people to get vaccinated and everyone to get their booster dose.”
Still, despite deceases in both statewide and countywide cases, the number of weekly cases continues to outnumber those experienced even in the last week of December. Case counts remain high — Klinepeter still labeled the spread as “extraordinarily dangerous” last week — and 99.75% of counties in the U.S. remain under “high” transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All 67 Pennsylvania counties also remain in “high” transmission.
So while a decrease may be a step in the right direction, there is still a considerable way to go before cases return to pre-Thanksgiving levels, when 100 county cases a day was a rarity. (In the month of January, 18 days saw more than 200 county cases.)
According to the CDC, 75.6% of Pennsylvania adults are fully vaccinated. At University Park, 91.2% of students and 85.6% of employees have told Penn State they’re vaccinated.
Penn State will update its COVID-19 dashboard every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the semester. It can be found at virusinfo.psu.edu/covid-19-dashboard/.
