Another double-digit day: Avoyelles COVID count now 277

For the third straight day this week, Avoyelles Parish has seen double-digit increases in the number of new coronavirus cases in the parish. The one-day increase from Wednesday to Thursday was 23, bringing the cumulative total of COVID-19 positive tests in the parish since March to 277. The death toll remained at 11 in the official report released at noon today.

Avoyelles had its largest single-day jump on Tuesday, when the daily count rose from 206 to 238 -- a 32-case incease. On Wednesday the numbers rose another 16, to 254.

Louisiana has had 52,415 COVID cases with 3,051 deaths. About 39,792 of the state's COVID patients have fully recovered. There are 653 hospitalized with 77 on ventilators.

The total number of COVID patients in the U.S. is nearing 2.4 million with over 122,000 deaths. The one-day increase to Thursday of 36,975 is the largest since the pandemic hit America in March. The previous high was 36,739 on April 24.

Neighboring Texas also had a one-day record today with 6.584 new cases.

Worldwide, COVID-19 has infected 9.4 million people and killed 482,801.

Avoyelles Parish has conducted over 4,700 tests. State officials have said Avoyelles was slow to implement widespread testing. A mobile testing program over the past two weeks is being credited with identifying more infections throughout the parish. As of Thursday, there were three COVID patients in Avoyelles Hospital.