PSU now requiring face masks to be worn on 8 campuses due to COVID — but not yet at University Park
Editor’s note: The CDC updated its COVID-19 Community Levels after the publication of this story and moved Centre County to “high,” so University Park is now expected to soon formally announce the requirement of masks indoors.
Penn State is now requiring face masks to be worn on eight campuses — but not yet University Park — in response to rising COVID cases across Pennsylvania and in accordance with public health recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Masks are required indoors at Penn State Abington, Behrend, Brandywine, Great Valley, Hazleton, Lehigh Valley, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, based on a news release issued Wednesday by the university. The College of Medicine also continues to require masking because of requirements from Penn State Health.
Seven of the eight campuses in question are located within counties that have high COVID-19 Community Levels, a measure designed by the CDC that takes into account both case counts and stress on the health care system. A high community level, for example, can mean more than 15% of a county’s hospital beds are occupied by COVID patients.
Penn State Scranton is the lone campus that is under a medium community level and still requires face masks because it was just recently downgraded from high. According to the university, campuses that move away from high must continue masking for an additional week in case of an unwanted rebound back to that level.
“As this sixth wave of COVID-19 spreads across Pennsylvania, it is likely that we will see more campuses move to require masking as their home counties move from yellow (medium) or green (low) to orange (high),” Kelly Wolgast, director of the university’s COVID-19 Operations Control Center, said in a written statement. “We continue to encourage our community to stay up to date on their vaccinations as the best way to avoid a serious case of COVID-19 and to stay home and get tested if you are experiencing symptoms.”
Centre County, home to Penn State’s flagship university, boasted a low community level as of Thursday afternoon — but, if cases continue to rise, it’s not certain how long that might last. A low community level requires fewer than 200 weekly COVID cases per 100,000 people; based on the most recent data, from May 18-24, Centre County stood at 190.9 such weekly cases per 100,000 people.
Local COVID hospitalizations remain manageable, according to the latest data. Regardless of the number of cases, a community level cannot be considered low if more than 10% of a county’s hospital beds are occupied by COVID patients or if more than 10 new weekly COVID admissions occur per 100,000 people.
Centre County currently has 6.7 new weekly admissions per 100,000 people, and only 2.9% of inpatient beds are in use by COVID patients, per the CDC.
Like most counties in Pennsylvania, Centre County does have a high community transmission level — with case counts similar to those experienced in early to mid-February — but, due to higher levels of vaccination and immunity, the CDC recommends using the separate community level metric to determine action. That level could be updated again later Thursday.
Masks are recommended indoors in counties with high community levels, regardless of one’s vaccination status.
The CDC updates community levels by 8 p.m. every Thursday.
This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 2:18 PM.
