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The COVID transmission rate remained high in all six local counties Friday, as it has for months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
Among those local counties, Blair had the highest number of new cases (759) and the highest number of new hospital admissions (41), along with the second highest test positivity (14.54%).
"No improvement," said Blair Emergency Management Director Mark Taylor, citing more new cases, more new deaths and higher hospital numbers here than last week.
"It's tough to put a handle on it," Taylor said, when asked to assess the current situation from a point of view that includes the whole pandemic, which began in the U.S. in early 2020.
"You would think, as there are more vaccinations, we would (be working) our way out," he said. "(But) that does not seem to be the case."
It's frustrating "we're not further along," he said.
But Blair's situation is mirrored in many other Pennsylvania counties, according to Taylor.
Most of the people in the hospital here, especially most who are very sick, are unvaccinated, he said.
People make their personal decisions, he stated.
Bedford County had the highest positivity rate (18.67%) this week, and Cambria had the highest number of deaths (15), according to the CDC and the state Department of Health.
Centre County had the highest level of vaccinations (61%), with Bedford County lowest (40%).
Transmission levels are based on incidence rate and test positivity over the past seven days.
The levels are high if the incidence rate is at least 100, or if the positivity rate is at least 10 percent.
All six counties qualified for high transmission based on incidence and all but Centre and Huntingdon qualified based on positivity.
The CDC numbers (deaths are from the state Department of Health):
* Blair County: 759 new cases, up 15 percent; 623 incidence rate; 14.54 percent positivity, up < 1 percent; 9 deaths; 54 percent of residents 12 and up fully vaccinated; 41 new hospital admissions, no change; * Bedford County: 202 new cases, up 6 percent; 421 incidence rate; 18.67 percent positivity, up < 1 percent; 6 deaths; 40 percent of residents 12 and up fully vaccinated; 22 new hospital admissions, up 83 percent; * Cambria County: 663 new cases, down 1 percent; 509 incidence rate; 10.78 percent positivity, down < 1 percent; 15 deaths; 59 percent of residents 12 and up fully vaccinated; 31 new hospital admissions, up 14 percent; * Centre County: 382 new cases, up 26 percent; 235 incidence rate; 8.88 percent positivity, up 1 percent; 5 deaths; 61 percent of residents 12 and up fully vaccinated; 33 new hospital admissions, up 37 percent; * Clearfield County: 322 new cases, up 13 percent; 406 incidence rate; 12.21 percent positivity up 3 percent; 10 deaths; 53 percent of residents 12 and up fully vaccinated; 39 new hospital admissions, down 25 percent; * Huntingdon County: 116 new cases, up 10 percent; 256 incidence rate; 6.24 percent positivity, no change; 2 deaths; 54 percent of residents 12 and up fully vaccinated; 7 new hospital admissions, down 22 percent. Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.