Avoyelles has 491 new COVID cases from Jan. 5-12

From Jan.5 to Jan. 12 Avoyelles Parish had 491 new COVID cases out of 3,530 tests reviewed, according to figures from the Louisiana Department of Health, for an overall positive rate of 13.6 percent for that period. The parish's death toll was reduced by one fatality during that period after one victim was determined to reside in another parish.

The LDH did not update parish figures on Thursday.

As of Wednesday, Avoyelles' 22-month pandemic totals were 8,482 cases and 179 deaths. Of those, 6,055 infections, with 161 deaths, were diagnosed as COVID using molecur lab tests. The other 2,427 cases, with 18 deaths, were diagnosed with rapid result tests.

The parish's official weekly positive rate, released Wednesday, was 5.7 percent for the seven-day period of Dec. 23-29. That was a jump from 4 percent for the period of Dec. 16-22. The state uses only lab tests in determining that rate. Rapid result tests usually have a higher positive rate because those receiving the test usually either have symptoms associated with COVID or are known to have been in close contact with someone with an active case of COVID, which results in a higher number of cases in those tests.

The LDH reports 97 percent of the state's cases are Omicron variant infections and 3 percent are Delta variant cases.

Every parish in the state is classified as "high risk" for the virus at this time.

The state's totals as of Thursday were 982,465 cases and 16,127 deaths since March 2020. LDH reports that 37,835 of those are "reinfections," which it says are individuals who have tested positive for COVID at least 90 days after previously testing positive for the virus.