Avoyelles has big batch of tests for Thursday: 13 new cases in 431 tests

Thursday's daily COVID update for Avoyelles Parish had a higher number of new cases and greater number of tests, with a bottom line of a lower positivity rate.

There were 13 new cases, no additional deaths and 431 tests in Thursday's report from the Louisiana Department of Health. The one-day positivity rate was 3 percent.

The parish got another bit of good news Thursday when Gov. John Bel Edwards said high school football teams in parishes that have had two or more consecutive weeks with a COVID rate of under 5 percent can increase their seating capacity to 50 percent, up from 25 percent.

Avoyelles is among the 26 parishes that have attained that favored status -- but it is still designated as having a "high" COVID presence.

The parish's pandemic total as of today's update was 1692 cases, 62 deaths and 27,573 tests. The state totals were 178,171 tests (775 new), 5593 deaths (9 additional) and 2,647,427 tests (up 19,756).