Avoyelles Oct. 8 COVID update: 11 cases in 67 tests

In Thursday's noon update from the Louisiana Department of Health, Avoyelles once again had "bad" numbers in its fight against COVID-19.

The only good news was no additional deaths related to the virus. The parish had 11 more cases since Wednesday's update with only 67 test results in the Thursday report, for a snapshot positivity rate of 16.4 percent.

The slow down in the number of tests, combined with the high percentage of positives in the test results, indicates those seeking a test are those experiencing some type of symptom associated with COVID -- but also of flu, allergy, sinus infection, and many other illnesses -- and fewer "random" tests through the mobile testiing program. It goes to reason that if only "sick" people are being tested, a higher percentage would test positive for COVID than if there were a wider community sample in the tests.

Avoyelles pandemic totals as of Thursday are 1,610 cases, 58 deaths and 24,777 tests.

The state's pandemic totals are 170,621 cases, 5,416 deaths and 2,437,687 tests.

Statewide there were 526 new cases in 12,300 tests and five additional deaths in the Thursday report, for a 4.2 percent positivity rate for the one-day sampling.