Avoyelles' COVID positive rate rises again

Avoyelles continued a frustrating trend of increasing its official weekly COVID positive rate, albeit ever so slightly, when the state released that number on Wednesday. The Crossroads Parish positive rate went from 2.2 percent for the week of April 22-April 28 to 2.3 percent for April 29-May 5.

That kept Avoyelles designated as at "high risk" for COVID, along with neighboring parishes Rapides, LaSalle, St. Landry and Evangeline.

To the east, Pointe Coupee is painted bright red on the state risk map as a "very high risk" parish. Meanwhile, West Feliciana -- technically a neighbor because it touches Avoyelles at Turnbull Island -- Concordia and Catahoula parishes were at moderate risk.

As of Wednesday, 4,227 Avoyelleans had been diagnosed with COVID-19 since March 2020. Of those cases, 3,684 were "confirmed" by lab tests and 543 were based on rapid result tests. There had been 123 deaths, with 115 designated "confirmed" as COVID-related and eight deemed "probable" for the virus. The state's 14-month totals were 463,997 cases and 10,463 deaths.