Avoyelles hit with 71 new cases in Thursday COVID update

Any hope that Avoyelles Parish's high double-digit increase in COVID cases on Wednesday was a post-holiday "blip" may have been dashed Thursday with a similar report.

Thursday was another day of almost as many tests reviewed in one day as some of the recent week-long reports totaled. Out of 842 test results there were 71 new cases of COVID. That is a one-day overall positive rate of 8.4 percent.

While most of the tests reviewed were molecular lab tests (487), most of the new cases were in the rapid result tests (45). The RRTs seem to be gaining in popularity as the pandemic drags on.

The parish is still faring better than other areas of the state. The state's one-day overall positive rate was 22.9 percent -- 12,467 cases out of 54,374 tests.

There were no additional deaths in Avoyelles and only two statewide in the Thursday report.

The parish's 21-month totals as of Thursday were 7,679 cases and 181 deaths. The state's totals were 828,695 infections with 14,986 fatalities.

Thursday's update is a little better for Avoyelles than Wednesday's, when there were 83 new cases in the 852 tests reviewed, for a 9.7 percent one-day positive rate.

The results seem to be following the pattern COVID experts had predicted would occur with the new Omicron variant -- a sudden spike in new cases but relatively few fatalities. Prior to the Wednesday report, the parish had a few reports with increases in the low double digits. Prior to that, the parish had only two or three new cases per day for several weeks.

Omicron is more contagious but appears to be less likely to cause severe and lethal COVID cases -- although it is still potentially fatal, healthcare professionals in this and other nations have said.

The variant is more resistant to vaccines, which accounts for the state health department's numbers showing 25 percent of those who died during the week of Dec. 16-22 were fully vaccinated and 36 percent of all new cases were individuals who had been fully vaccinated. The variant is also able to reinfect those who had COVID earlier in the pandemic.

Local, state and national healthcare officials are encouraging those who have not been vaccinated to do so and those who have been immunized to get a booster shot to better protect from infection.