Avoyelles sees uptick in COVID cases in Thursday report

First, it is only one daily report which is certainly not enough to project a "trend," but the uptick in the number of COVID cases and positive rate in the tests reviewed is a reminder that the enemy is still out there, even if it isn't causing the level of misery it did at the peak of its recent surge.

The Louisiana Department of Health's Thursday update for Avoyelles Parish reviewed 425 COVID tests, of which 19 were positive for the virus. This is disappointing because the parish had been seeing single-digit-per-day increases with positive rates around 1 percent. Its official 7-day positive rate released Wednesday was 1.2, down from 2.7 percent for both of the two previous weeks.

Thursday's report reflects an overall positive rate of 4.47, which is more reminiscent of early September than early October. There were no additional COVID-related deaths. The positive rate for lab tests was 4.3 percent and the rate for rapid result tests was 6.9 percent.

Statewide the number of new cases jumped from 502 new cases on Wednesday to 923 on Thursday. The number of deaths were fewer -- 22 on Thursday and 36 on Wednesday. However, deaths reflect the conditions that were present weeks ago, when the victim was infected, and not the current conditions.

Chances are this report is a "luck of the draw" incident and not the first ripple of a feared Autumn wave. For those who believe there couldn't possibly be another wave, there are some who are calling increases in Colorado and Alaska the "fifth wave."

Dr. Anthony Fauci's recent comments are not so much about eliminating the COVID threat but in reducing it to a level where Americans can get out of the "pandemic phase" and deal with it as they do many other viral illnesses each year. He said the only way to reach that point is for significantly more Americans to be vaccinated against COVID. With over 65 million unvaccinated Americans, the virus has an ample feeding ground to allow it to stick around and mutate into even more dangerous variations.

Avoyelles' 19-month pandemic totals as of Thursday are 7,065 cases and 177 deaths. Statewide the totals are 754,950 cases and 14,446 deaths.