Fed by the return of students recently to University Park, the COVID-19 outbreak in Centre County continues, with 601 new cases for the week ending Friday.

That is 27 more than for the previous week, according to information from the state Department of Health, which updates its Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard on Fridays.

Centre has had 2,231 positive cases, almost 3.5 times as many the next closest area county — Blair — along with far higher “incidence” and positivity rates than all the other local counties, according to the DoH.

But Blair is experiencing a modest outbreak of its own, due to the return of students to Penn State Altoona, with 100 more cases for the county this week — 66 more than the previous week.

Blair’s incidence rate –the number of new positive cases in the last seven days per 100,000 people — is 80.8 — 30.8 higher than the threshold beyond which the DoH has previously identified as a cause for concern.

Blair’s incidence rate is more than twice as high as that of all other local counties but Centre.

Blair’s positivity rate — the number of positive cases as a percentage of the number of tests — however, is 3.5 percent, 1.5 percent lower than the DoH’s threshold for concern.

Centre’s incidence rate is 350, seven times higher than the state’s threshold of concern.

Its positivity rate is 12 percent, 2.4 times higher than the state’s threshold of concern.

Penn State Altoona has had a total of 79 positive cases among students, 62 during the week ending Thursday — with 156 students awaiting test results, according to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Eight-six percent of those positive cases were determined by “on-demand,” rather than random-surveillance testing, according to the dashboard.

Sixty-seven of the positive cases are still active, although none of the active patients have remained on campus in isolation, according to the dashboard.

Fifty-three close contacts of people who’ve tested positive, however, are in quarantine in 21 designated campus dorm rooms on campus or in three hotels booked to handle the overflow, according to campus spokesman Jonathan O’Harrow.

The dorm rooms were identified based on proper airflow and private restroom facilities, with some located in each of the four residence halls, according to O’Harrow.

Staff members assist all students in quarantine, stopping off at the hotels “throughout the day to drop off food and supplies,” O’Harrow wrote in an email.

A residence life staff member is stationed at each hotel in the evening and at night, O’Harrow wrote.

Students can get tested during the week at the Sheetz Family Health Center, O’Harrow wrote.

Last weekend, the school established a “pop-up” outdoor testing site in front of the center, he wrote.

At Penn State University Park, 2,123 students have tested positive since mid-August, with 819 cases still active and 973 students awaiting results, according to the university dashboard.

There are 143 students in isolation because they’ve been infected and 57 students in quarantine because of close contact, according to the dashboard.

The main campus outbreak may be easing, as the highest numbers of positive results — 653 and 634 — came during the weeks ending Sept. 10 and 17, respectively.

There were only 437 positives for the week ending Thursday, although there are still a modest number of results pending, based on a dashboard graph.

Bedford County’s incidence rate is 29.1, and its positivity rate 3.0 percent.

Cambria’s incidence rate is 15.2, and its positivity rate 1.0 percent.

Clearfield’s incidence rate is 26.5, and its positivity rate 2.4 percent.

Huntingdon’s incidence rate is 17.7 and its positivity rate 0.7 percent.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.