Avoyelles has two more COVID-related deaths

Friday's COVID numbers for Avoyelles "just don't make sense," Emergency Preparedness Director Joey Frank said.

The parish had 445 new test results since the Thursday update from the Louisiana Department of Health, but has one few cases and two new deaths, bringing the total to 1398 cases, 49 deaths and 20,724 tests since the pandemic began in March. The numbers include a high one-day total of new test results in addition to the minus-one number of cases reported since the Thursday update.

Frank said he has not received any official explanation for the parish's lower case count. The adjustment could be due to COVID cases being mistakenly placed in Avoyelles count or possibly the identification of duplicate positive tests. He was going to seek a clarification from state officials.

Statewide, as Louisiana enters Phase 3, there have been156,174 cases, 5,032 deaths and 2,036,818 tests since March.