Tuesday COVID update for Avoyelles: 11 new cases in only 65 tests

Probably due to the holidays, there were only 65 tests reviewed in the Tuesday COVID update for Avoyelles Parish. Despite that low number of tests, the parish still had 11 new cases identified, reflecting a one-day positive rate of almost 16.9 percent. Statewide there were 18,359 tests in the Tuesday report with 4,313 new cases diagnosed -- a disturbing positive rate of almost 23.5 percent.

One-day reports are not reliable in defining a trend or establishing the level of COVID in a community. A week's worth of reports provides a better picture of what a community is facing. The state will release the official weekly positive rate for parishes on Wednesday, looking only at the lab test results and disregarding rapid result tests, for the period of Dec. 16-22. Avoyelles Today will conduct a Wednesday-to-Wednesday report for the period of Dec. 22-29 tomorrow.

The parish's pandemic totals as of Tuesday were 7,525 cases with 181 fatalities. Statewide totals were 806,850 cases and 14,978 deaths.