COVID-19 patient totals remain high as Centre County sets more daily case records
Mount Nittany Medical Center on Jan. 21 was treating the highest number of COVID-19 patients in a month, according to the dashboard. Patient numbers haven’t been this high since Christmas Eve.
There were 52 patients on Jan. 21 between ages 28 and 92. Eight were in intensive care and five were on ventilators. Of the total, 37 patients were not vaccinated.
During the week of Jan. 17-21, patient ages ranged from 28 to 96.
“We continue to care for a high number of COVID positive patients at the Medical Center,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Upendra Thaker said in a statement. “Community spread is extremely high, and we cannot stress enough the importance of mitigation measures right now.”
Centre County reported the two highest daily COVID-19 case totals as overall cases passed the 30,000 mark this past week.
A record high was set Jan. 16 with 415 cases; the second highest total was set Jan. 21 with 391 cases. There were 1,765 cases from Jan. 15-21, about 400 fewer than the previous seven days.
As of Jan. 21, there have been a total of 31,674 cases — 28,344 confirmed and 3,330 probable — along with 85,638 negative tests.
Nine deaths were reported, including three on Jan. 20 and four on Jan. 21, to bring the county total to 313. There have been 24 fatalities so far this month.
Tracking Centre County’s cases
Between Jan. 14 and 21, there were 41 new cases at Rockview state prison and four new cases at Benner state prison, according to the Corrections Department dashboard.
During the past week, two deaths were reported at Centre Crest and five cases were reported in Embassy of Hearthside residents, according to the dashboard.
Here’s a breakdown of the total number of confirmed cases in each ZIP code that is partially or fully in Centre County, according to the state Health Department. The number of cases reported between Jan. 14 and 21 is in parentheses.
16801 (State College): 8,084 (219)
16823 (Bellefonte/Pleasant Gap): 5,517 (372)
16803 (State College): 2,916 (151)
16686 (Tyrone): 2,367 (156)
16866 (Philipsburg): 1,789 (145)
16802 (University Park): 1,770 (47)
16870 (Port Matilda): 1,126 (76)
16841 (Howard): 956 (59)
16828 (Centre Hall): 675 (38)
16827 (Boalsburg): 667 (39)
16875 (Spring Mills): 605 (34)
16844 (Julian): 502 (19)
16666 (Osceola Mills): 500 (38)
16822 (Beech Creek): 468 (29)
16845 (Karthaus): 465 (33)
16853 (Milesburg): 257 (14)
16874 (Snow Shoe): 251 (11)
16877 (Warriors Mark): 249 (15)
16826 (Blanchard): 215 (10)
16865 (Pennsylvania Furnace): 196 (18)
16829 (Clarence): 162 (12)
16820 (Aaronsburg): 160 (8)
16854 (Millheim): 160 (7)
16872 (Rebersburg): 143 (7)
16851 (Lemont): 139 (8)
16859 (Moshannon): 92 (4)
16868 (Pine Grove Mills): 81 (10)
16832 (Coburn): 79 (5)
16677 (Sandy Ridge): 68 (2)
16835 (Unionville): 55 (2)
16860 (Munson): 54 (2)
16856 (Mingoville): 45 (1)
16852 (Madisonburg): 40 (0)
16882 (Woodward): 36 (3)
16804 (State College): 18 (0)
16864 (Orviston): 18 (1)
16805 (State College): 1-4 (The state does not provide specific numbers when there are fewer than five cases to protect patient privacy.)
Boosters, flu shots recommended
The Health Department released new data about post-vaccination, or breakthrough cases, this past week. It shows that more than three-quarters of cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the past year were in people who were not fully vaccinated.
Between Jan. 1, 2021, and Jan. 4 of this year, those who were unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated accounted for 78% of cases, 85% of hospitalizations and 84% of deaths.
“The odds are clearly stacked in favor of people who are vaccinated,” acting Health Secretary Keara Klinepeter said in a statement. “We also know that vaccine boosters provide a greater level of protection from severe illness and death. That’s why we strongly recommend everyone 12 and older to get a booster dose now.”
State health officials on Jan. 20 urged residents to get the flu vaccine “as soon as possible.”
Flu activity is high, the Department of Health said, with cases reported in all 67 counties. Because COVID symptoms can be similar to the flu, testing is up, but cases are higher compared to the same week in the previous two years.
“It is not too late to get your flu vaccine if you have not already done so. We know that people who get the flu after being vaccinated have less severe symptoms and are not sick for as long as those who do not get vaccinated,” Ray Barishansky, deputy secretary of health preparedness and community protection, said in a statement.
“We also know that the COVID-19 vaccines do not protect you from getting the flu. So, while we have been encouraging everyone to get COVID-19 vaccines, you still also need to get your flu vaccine.”
COVID vaccines and flu vaccines can be given at the same time, the Health Department said.
Fewer cases in PA
Pennsylvania’s daily case totals peaked this past week at 33,266 on Jan. 16, the second highest on record. As of Jan. 21, there have been a total of 2,542,544 cases along with 6,001,213 negative tests.
From Jan. 15-21, there were 140,863 cases in the state, almost 54,000 fewer than the previous week.
Statewide, an additional 936 deaths were reported to bring the total to 39,362.
Hospitalizations across Pennsylvania fell from the record highs reached earlier this month. The number of total patients was 6,794 on Jan. 21, about 720 fewer than the previous Friday — though it’s 1,165 higher than the first weekday in January.
Vaccine rates inch up
Every county in the U.S. — except for two in Montana, one in Nebraska and one in Texas — was in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s high level of community transmission on Jan. 21.
In Centre County:
68% of the total population received at least one vaccine dose (last week’s figure was 67.2%), with 58% fully vaccinated (last week: 57.5%)
In Pennsylvania:
65.2% of the total population is fully vaccinated (last week: 64.8%)
For the week Jan. 14-20, Centre County’s positivity rate rose fell by less than half a percentage point to 28.3%, the early warning monitoring dashboard showed. Pennsylvania’s rate dropped by about 4 points to 31%.
