Tuesday COVID update is odd: 10 cases, no additional deaths in 45 test results

Tuesday's COVID update for Avoyelles Parish was unusual for a few reasons.

First, there were only a net of 45 test results. The reports have been averaging about 200-300 per day. There were 52 rapid result tests and a subtraction of seven lab test results.

The state health department does not provide an explanation for periodic adjustments to the numbers of tests, cases and deaths in the pandemic totals, but in the past this has been because duplicate tests have been identified or someone living in another parish received there test here and was incorrectly added to the Avoyelles totals.

What makes it hard to provide a one-day positive rate for lab tests is that there were three new COVID cases among lab tests reviewed in the Tuesday report. That means there were at least 10 tests subtracted to get the minus-7 total for the report. Overall there were 10 new cases in the 45 test results added to the pandemic total. That is a 22.2 percent one-day positive rate, which doesn't mean much due to the odd update numbers.

Good news. Despite a statewide spike in COVID deaths since Monday's report, there were no additional deaths for Avoyelles Parish in Tuesday's update. There were 121 additional deaths in the state since the Monday report.

As of Tuesday, Avoyelles' pandemic totals were 6,750 cases and 160 deaths. Statewide there have been 719,424 cases and 13,241 deaths since the pandemic hit Louisiana in March 2020.