Fewer new cases gives Avoyelles hope that end of pandemic is close

Another day of single-digit increase has given Avoyelles Parish officials cause to hope the parish has turned a corner in its fight against coronavirus.

The noon update for Monday (Aug. 17) showed six new cases and no additional deaths from COVID-19, giving Avoyelles 1,149 cases and 37 deaths since the pandemic began in March. While officials want to believe the lower daily numbers are because there is less COVID in the community, another possibility is that fewer parish residents have been tested in the past week.

The number of new test results reported between the Sunday and Monday updates was 59, which is still more than a 10 percent positivity rate.

Avoyelles Emergency Preparedness Director Joey Frank said the number of tests administered at the mobile sites has dropped from over 50 a day to around 5. He said he does not know if that decrease has been seen in private medical providers' testing programs.

"I think we are close to a plateau, based on the state numbers," Frank said. "We're almost there."

As Coroner Dr. James Bordelon cautioned earlier in the COVID crisis, fewer new cases does not mean no new deaths. COVID-related deaths from patients with serious complicaitions from the disease may continue to be reported even after there are no new infections.

Frank said the current state number of 37 deaths in the parish may be increased in the next day or two due to a death over the weekend that is apparently not in the Monday update.