COVID death toll in Avoyelles reaches 199

Avoyelles Parish had its first reorted COVID case on March 21, 2020, and its first COVID-related death 10 days later. A year later the parish's pandemic death toll had reached 121. Now, as the parish nears the second anniversary of the start of the COVID pandemi, the parish had its second straight two-death report on Friday to raise that total to 199.

There were only eight more cases of COVID in the parish than there were in the Thursday report -- seven first-time infections and one reinfection.

As of Friday, Avoyelles' pandemic totals were 11,511 total cases, 10,721 individuals affected with 790 being reinfected and 199 dying.