Tuesday COVID update for Avoyelles: 91 new cases in only 273 tests

There were only 273 COVID tests for Avoyelles Parish in Tuesday's update from the state health department. With about a third of the tests, one would expect one-third of the number of new cases.

Despite the relatively small number of tests, there were 91 new cases of COVID diagnosed -- a disturbing 33.3 percent one-day positive rate. Office of Public Health Region 6 Administrator Dr. David Holcombe recently noted the positive rate in tests in Rapides Parish were running over 30 percent.

Until the Tuesday report, it looked like Avoyelles might be grazed by the Omicron Wave but miss a direct hit. Now the parish has to wait for the next few days' reports to determine if this one represents a new trend or was just a "luck of the draw" sample that had an extraordinarily high number of positive tests in it. For the first time since this surge began late last week, Avoyelles' daily positive rate is higher than the state's. The state one-day positive rate was 25 percent. There were 9,290 new cases statewide with 17 additional COVID-related deaths.

The Tuesday report puts Avoyelles one day away from topping 8,000 COVID cases, wit4h 7,933 infections since March 2020. Fortunately the death toll remained at 181. Statewide there have been 869,146 cases and 15,018 deaths in the pandemic.