'Reinfection' numbers show 675 more COVID cases in Avoyelles than previously thought

Bad news: COVID's presence in Avoyelles Parish is worse than we thought. Good news: the "fifth wave" seems to have at least stalled and possibly begun receding.

As noted previously, the state Health Department has recently added another set of numbers to the parish-level statistics on the LDH website. The new statistic is "reinfections." We thought the reinfections were included in the overall number of positive test results that had been being presented on that page. It now appears those numbers reflect individuals who have been infected with COVID. The "reinfection" number is added to the totals for lab tests and rapid result tests to get the bigger "total cases" number.

That being said, Friday's report showed there had been 89 additional individuals infected with COVID since the Thursday report. There were no additional deaths. There were apparently 12 Avoyelleans who were reinfected with COVID after having endured the virus previously, giving the parish a total of 101 more cases in the Friday update. These numbers are a little higher than Thursday's, but close enough to suggest a "leveling off" of infections in the parish. Of course, that could be wishful thinking.

The total number of pandemic cases in the parish as of Friday was 10,814. The number of individuals who have been infected was 10,139. There have been 675 reinfections. There have been 186 COVID-related deaths in Avoyelles since March 2020.

Local, state and national health care officials continue to urge people to be as safe as possible. Receiving a COVID vaccination and booster, as well as wearing masking in crowded, indoor settings, are still considered the easiest best ways to protect against infection.

The message of the day is: Don't become a statistic.