State officials are seeing a coronavirus case climb in college-age Pennsylvanians.

“Where we've seen the biggest increases is in colleges and universities,” said Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine in a news conference Friday. “We're very pleased to work with them to help them contain and mitigate the spread of this virus.”

Slippery Rock University has seen 51 of its students test positive for the virus since Aug. 20. From Sept. 4 to Sept. 10, the university added 15 confirmed cases.

SRU officials last week said they will continue to work with Allegheny Health Network as they move forward with their semester.

Butler County Community College has had two confirmed cases of the virus, according to a school official, — one at main campus and the other at BC3@Cranberry.

According to data from the Pennsylvania Health Department, the 19 to 24 age group made up about 5% of cases in April in the Southwest Region, to which Butler County belongs. So far in September, the age group has comprised about 29% of cases in the region.

Levine said there have been reports of people in this group disobeying guidance and recommendations. She said it will be important to help guide them through with information and understanding.

“We want to empower the young people. You can't just talk at them,” Levine said. “You have to work with the young people and empower them to make the right decisions.”

Butler County has added 18 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past two days, according to state data.

According to data released by the Department of Health, the county added eight new confirmed cases Thursday and 10 on Friday.

As of Friday, the county has had 841 residents test positive for the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. The county's death toll remained at 21 during that time frame.

Butler Health System also reported an increase of one inpatient at Butler Memorial Hospital since its last report Wednesday. The hospital is treating six inpatients, five with confirmed cases and one who may have the virus. None of the patients are being treated in the intensive care unit, which is an improvement from one in Wednesday's report.

Levine reminded the public Friday that the COVID Alert PA phone application will be available later this month, adding to the department's arsenal of technological tools.

The application uses Bluetooth technology to alert residents if someone who has COVID-19 is nearby.

“This technology does not track or collect any location data or personal data from your phone — only your phone's proximity to other phones with the app enabled,” Levine said.