March 31, 2021: COVID-19 Update from the Centre Region Emergency Management Program
News from the Centre Region:
Mount Nittany Health: The following may be attributed to Christopher Hester, MD, Chief Clinical Officer, Mount Nittany Physician Group:
There are currently 28 COVID positive inpatients at Mount Nittany Medical Center, ages 44 to 90. To date, there have been 118 COVID positive inpatients this month, with an average daily census of 18.
As community cases of the virus continue to rise, so do our hospital numbers. COVID inpatient numbers have steadily been on the rise for the last few weeks.
We continue to monitor virus activity in the community and within the health system on a daily basis, and are prepared to make service adjustments as needed to serve our COVID positive inpatients and those needing us for acute and surgical care. This includes the rescheduling of nonessential surgeries and procedures, if needed.
We understand that with warmer weather upon us, there is a desire to return to a sense of normalcy in our lives. With picnic, baseball and outdoor activity season just around the corner, we, too, are ready to get past this pandemic. And while we have made great strides in the past year, we are not there yet.
We ask that you please help us by continuing to avoid social gatherings, keep wearing your masks and frequently wash your hands. These measures have been proven to help stop the spread of COVID-19, and we need the entire community to do its part so that each of us is once again able to safely enjoy quality time spent with family and friends.
Patton Township: Free COVID-19 testing is available in the Patton Township Municipal Building. The testing is being paid for by the Department of Health. You can read more here: https://www.media.pa.gov/pages/health-details.aspx?newsid=1367
News from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Governor Wolf announced the expansion of vaccines to all eligible Pennsylvania adults by April 19th. He also announced that frontline workers, including police and firefighters, are now eligible to receive the vaccine. You can read more here: https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Vaccine/Pages/Vaccine.aspx
Resources for Residents: Residents can get more information on our special COVID-19 website. The site is updated daily by State College Borough. You can find that site here: https://www.statecollegepa.us/coronavirus
Residents can also get information on the Centre Region Ready Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/centreregionready/
State College Borough is maintaining a dashboard by zip code. The dashboard can be found here: https://coronavirus-response-state-college-borough-statecollegepa.hub.arcgis.com/
For questions or more information, please contact Centre Region Public Information Officer Amy Farkas by email at manager@harristownship.org or by phone at 466-6228.