COVID shows increase in cases, positive rate in Avoyelles' mid-week update

The mid-week COVID update for Avoyelles Parish contained no surprises. The pandemic's current surge continued its persistent climb in the parish, adding 94 new cases out of 532 test results reviewed since the Tuesday update. There were no additional deaths in the Wednesday report.

The only thing out of the ordinary was the large percentage of tests that were rapid results. Throughout the pandemic, Avoyelles' "test of preference" has been the detailed molecular lab tests, even though a person might have to wait a few days to know if he is infected or not. The rapid result tests were rolled out several months after the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. Since then, rapid tests have made up only 10 percent of the total number of tests administered in the Crossroads Parish.

In the Wednesday report, over 77 percent of those tested opted for the rapid result version.

The parish also learned its new official weekly positive rate, for the period of Aug. 12-18. As had been expected, that rate rose by almost 2 percentage points, from 9.5 percent from Aug. 5-11 to 11.3 percent for Aug. 12-18.

There was no hope for better numbers contained in Wednesday's report. The one-day snapshot of COVID in Avoyelles showed an overall positive rate of 17.6 -- 94 out of 532. In the pool of 412 rapid tests there were 75 positives, for an 18.2 rate. The lab tests -- which is the only group used to determine the official weekly positive rate -- was higher than the Aug. 12-18 mark at 15.8 percent, with 19 infections found in 120 tests.

The parish's pandemic totals on Wednesday were 6,131 cases and 139 deaths. Statewide there had been 671,237 cases and 12,226 deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020.