Avoyelles COVID death toll now at 46; pandemic total 1,304 cases

Avoyelles added another death to the COVID pandemic total for the parish in Wednesday's update from the Louisiana Department of Health. There were nine new cases, pushing the parish's official number of cases to over 1,300 -- 1,304. The update was based on 112 tests, giving this batch of tests an 8 percent positivity rate -- considerably less concerning than the 20 percent rate in the smaller groups of tests on Monday and Tuesday. There have been 46 COVID-related deaths.

The state updated the by-race death totals Tuesday, when the parish had 45 deaths. Of those 45 fatalities, 29 were white and 16 were black.