Avoyelles continues streak of 'good' COVID reports

Avoyelles Parish continued its trend of "low" positive rates in the daily updates from the state today (Oct. 23) with eight new COVID cases out of 304 test results -- a positive rate of 2.6 percent. The number of COVID-related deaths remained ate 62, where it has been since Oct. 11.

The parish's pandemic totals as of Friday were 1700 cases, 62 deaths and 27,877 tests. The state's totals as of Friday were 178,870 cases, 5,614 deaths and 2,667,505 tests. The state's one-day positive rate snapshot for Friday was 3.4 percent. While it is a small victory, the parish can take some level of hope and pride in being below the state average. It was not too long ago the parish was consistently above the daily positive rates. Now it is one of 26 parishes that have attained at least two consecutive weeks at under 5 percent positive. Despite that relatively "good" rating, the parish's positivity rate still classifies it as "high" for COVID infection.

On the national front, more reports indicate a surge in COVID cases, which was expected to occur in the fall and winter. However, the predicted die-down of the virus during the heat of late spring and summer did not occur. That has resulted in the "new wave" of infection arriving in some states that had not defeated the initial wave that arrived in the nation in March.