Avoyelles' COVID count jumps by 32 overnight; now at 238 cases, still 11 deaths

In its biggest single-day increase of the pandemic, Avoyelles Parish's official number of Coronavirus-2019 cases jumped from 206 on Monday to 238 in Tuesday's update from the Louisiana Department of Health. The number of COVID-related deaths remain at 11.

State officials maintain the current numbers released each day at noon are correct and no longer include retests from COVID patients. Avoyelles Parish officials are not convinced and believe at least 50 of the cases attributed to the parish are second, third, fourth and possibly even fifth test results from infected individuals. Avoyelles Emergency Preparedness Director Joey Frank said he will be reviewing the list of COVID cases sent to his office by the state to confirm whether the number represents 238 individuals or the number is inflated by retests of infected individuals.