Number of Pennsylvania counties at high COVID community level rises from 4 to 7

Jackie Starkey
·2 min read
17

The number of Pennsylvania counties at a high COVID-19 community level rose again this week, from four as of Sept. 29 to seven as of Thursday.

In areas of high community levels, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which releases the metric, recommends individuals wear a mask in indoor, public spaces.

The community levels are updated each Thursday, and as of Oct. 6, seven Pennsylvania counties fell into the high category. They are Warren, Elk, Snyder, Mifflin, Sullivan, Bradford and Susquehanna counties.

Bradford, Mifflin and Susquehanna counties were all at a high level the week prior, while Sullivan and Warren and Snyder were upgraded from medium and Elk from low. Carbon County, which was at high last week, has been moved back to medium.

This map of Pennsylvania from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows COVID-19 community levels by county. The orange are at high, yellow are medium and green are low.
This map of Pennsylvania from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows COVID-19 community levels by county. The orange are at high, yellow are medium and green are low.

The community levels are determined using data on new cases and COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 people (seven day totals) and percent of inpatient beds used by COVID patients (a seven-day average).

Those at higher risk for severe illness should consider masking in medium-level areas, per the CDC, while all individuals should get vaccinated and test if they have symptoms, regardless of community level.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reports there have been 12,549 new cases in the commonwealth in the past seven days for which data are available, from Sept. 28 through Oct. 4.

To date, Pennsylvania has reported more than 3.2 million confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, though it has likely seen more unreported cases amid the rise of at-home testing.

Centre County is scored at a low COVID-19 community level for the third consecutive week as of Oct. 6, with 106 cases in the seven days proceeding Oct. 5, according to the CDC. The county’s case rate is 65.28 per 100,000 people.

The positivity rate for the county is at 8.44%, down from 10.46% the week prior.

Thursday, the CDC announced it would cease publishing daily new case counts and deaths for the U.S. Instead it will report such data weekly, beginning Oct. 20. Friday, the federal agency reported the U.S. has counted more than 96.3 million cases of COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic and more than 1 million deaths.