Centre County reports record number of new COVID-19 cases

Centre County reported its highest one-day total of new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to the state Department of Health. The county added 184 cases, all of which are confirmed, to bring the case total to 870 since the first was reported March 20.

Of the new cases, 180 are in the State College ZIP codes of 16801, 16802 and 16803. Four of the cases were actually reported Tuesday, but they came in too late to be included in that day’s report.

There “is at least one large outbreak occurring in the county, and it does appear that most of the cases are coming from that,” Maggi Mumma, a spokesperson for the Health Department, said Wednesday in an email. “The department cannot comment further on cases or clusters of cases.”

Penn State on Tuesday announced an additional 205 cases since its previous dashboard update to raise the total at University Park to 416 cases. The university dashboard showed 149 students were in on-campus isolation, while 76 were in quarantine. Penn State spokesperson Wyatt DuBois said the university is almost at 50% quarantine and isolation capacity.

“It’s important to note that as students come into Q&I, other students are leaving as they complete the required Q&I period,” DuBois said in an email.

Positive cases in college students are counted where the students spend most of their time, the Health Department said. In the case of Penn State students, that would be here, in Centre County. Cases in 19- to 24-year-olds account for almost 66% of the total in the state’s north-central region, which includes Centre, Clinton and Lycoming counties.

One patient is hospitalized at Mount Nittany Medical Center due to COVID-19 as of Wednesday afternoon, according to a hospital spokesperson and the state dashboard.

Centre County has had 18,762 negative tests to this point.

The increase in cases is “a reminder to us all to wash our hands, wear a mask and practice social distancing,” Mumma said.

Pennsylvania added 931 cases to bring the state total to 141,290. There have been 1.63 million negative tests, and an estimated 82% of patients have recovered statewide.

Statewide, there have been 7,805 deaths due to COVID-19, including 14 new fatalities reported Wednesday. There have been 11 deaths in Centre County.

The breakdown of cases by Centre County ZIP code is as follows, according to the DOH:

• 16801 (State College): 386 confirmed (137 new cases), 19 probable
• 16802 (University Park): 97 (35 new cases), 0 probable
• 16823 (Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap): 74, 6 probable
• 16803 (State College): 72 (8 new cases), 6 probable
• 16686 (Tyrone): 32 (1 new case), 0 probable
• 16866 (Philipsburg): 26, 1-4 probable
• 16875 (Spring Mills): 23, 0 probable
• 16841 (Howard): 24 (1 new case), 1-4 probable
• 16870 (Port Matilda): 21, 1-4 probable
• 16827 (Boalsburg): 18 (1 new case), 0 probable
• 16822 (Beech Creek): 13 (1 new case), 0 probable
• 16828 (Centre Hall): 13, 1-4 probable
• 16666 (Osceola Mills): 8, 1-4 probable
• 16851 (Lemont): 7, 0 probable
• 16853 (Milesburg): 7, 0 probable
• 16844 (Julian): 6, 0 probable
• 16854 (Millheim): 6, 1-4 probable
• 16877 (Warriors Mark): 5, 0 probable
• 16820 (Aaronsburg): 5, 1-4 probable
• 16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 5, 0 probable
• 16804, 16829, 16832, 16845, 16852, 16860, 16868, 16872, 16874, 16882: 1-4 cases each

The state does not give 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 age breakdown of cases in Pennsylvania is:

• Approximately 1% are 0-4
• Nearly 2% are 5-12
• Approximately 4% are 13-18
• Approximately 11% are 19-24
• Nearly 37% are 25-49
• Approximately 22% are 50-64
• Nearly 23% are ages 65 or older

This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 12:24 PM.