Avoyelles' post-Thanksgiving COVID count increases by 25

As of Sunday, Avoyelles Parish's official number of COVID cases since March had reached 2,077. Of those, 1,981 were categorized as "confirmed" by a molecular test to determine infection while 96 were called "probable" because they were identified by a "rapid test" that has become more available and common in the last few months of the pandemic. There have been 68 deaths, 66 confirmed and 2 probable.

While it is too early to blame Thanksgiving for any new cases, there were 25 cases and no additional deaths since last Wednesday (Nov. 25). Of those 25 cases. 15 were confirmed and 11 were probable.

The state's cumulative totals as of Sunday are 232,245 cases (220,309 confirmed, 11,936 probable) and 6,407 deaths (6,152 confirmed and 255 probable).

Nationally, nine states -- including Louisiana and Mississippi -- have had more than one in every 1,000 residents die of COVID-19. The other seven states are Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island in the Northeast and North and South Dakota in the northern Midwest.

Avoyelles, with an estimated population of 42,000, also has a higher than 1 per 1,000 death rate from the virus.