Friday is another one-case day for Avoyelles

Friday was another one-case day in Avoyelles Parish's two-year battle with COVID-19. The best news in recent reports is the absence of reinfections and additional deaths, two of the biggest threats the virus posed in its last wave. This means those who have had the virus before are no longer being afflicted by the Omicron variant and any infections in the past few weeks were mild cases.

There is a report that Omicron 2, a subvariant of the last version of the virus, is gaining strength in the nation, which has caused new cases to increase in some places. Omicron 2 is said to be 80 percent more contagious than Omicron, which was much more contagious than previous strains of COVID-19. The good news is that so many people have been vaccinated or were infected by Omicron 1 that there is likely to be no surge as occurred following the last five waves of COVID. The bad news is that in those communities with low vaccination rates, anyone who didn't "catch COVID" earlier this year is fair game for O-2.

As of Friday, Avoyelles Parish had 11,569 infections involving 10,772 individuals since March 2020. There had been 797 reinfections -- most of those from Omicron 1 since December. The parish's COVID death toll remains at 206.