On Sunday, the Louisiana Department of Health update showed the state adding almost 4,000 new COVID-19 cases since Friday’s update, to push the identified and possible cases over the quarter-million cases mark.

The LDH dashboard showed Louisiana added 3,939 cases Sunday with 45,248 new tests recorded. That raised the total identified infections so far in the state to 251,123. Of those, 235,869 are confirmed, with 15,254 listed as possible cases.

According to an LDH spokesman, people initially identified as having a positive antigen test who are later identified as having a positive confirmatory test will be removed from the possible case count and added to the cumulative case count.

The rough positivity rate for Sunday’s tests is 8.7 percent.

According to the update, the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 rose to 6,584, an increase of 36 from 6,548 on Friday. Of those, 6,309 are confirmed, with 275  considered probable COVID-19 fatalities pending final testing. 

That rise represents an increase of 0.54 percent. The average age of fatal patients is 73, the median age 75.

In Iberia Parish, the number of cases was at 3,917 Sunday, an increase of 55. Of those, 3,765 are confirmed, with 152 probable. The number of deaths remained at 110, 107 confirmed and three probable. There have been 46,831 tests performed in the parish. The seven-day average test positivity rose by 32.9 percent, from 8.7 percent on Nov. 18 to 11.3 percent on Nov. 25.

St. Martin Parish’s number of identified cases rose to 2,924, an increase of 45, with 38,621 tests performed. The seven-day average test positivity rate rose by a tenth of a percent, from 11.2 percent on Nov. 18 to 11.3 percent on Nov. 25. The number of deaths rose by one, to 74, with 69 confirmed and five probable.

In St. Mary Parish, the seven-day positivity rate rose on Nov. 25 to 6.2 percent, from 5.1 percent on Nov. 18. Total cases rose to 2,484, an increase of 43, after 29,629 tests. Of those cases, 2,361 are confirmed, with 123 probable. The number of COVID-19 deaths rose by one, to 97, with 91 confirmed and six probable. 

In Lafayette Parish, the Sunday case count rose by 177, to 13,054, with the number of tests rising to 192,854. The seven-day test positivity average dropped from 11.8 percent on Nov. 18 to 10.9 percent as of Nov. 25. The number of deaths rose Sunday to 158, with 155 confirmed and three probable. 

The number of cases in Jefferson Parish rose by 355 to 24,943 on Sunday, compared to an increase of 280, to 17,013 in Orleans Parish. The latest data shows Orleans administered more tests, with 461,676 in Orleans compared to 344,931 tests in Jefferson.

Despite lower case numbers, the more urban Orleans Parish has seen three more confirmed deaths than its suburban neighbor. Orleans Parish deaths remained at 649, with 609 confirmed and 40 probable. In Jefferson Parish, the total number of deaths remained at 631, with 606 confirmed and 25 probable. 

The LDH reporting on hospitalizations due to coronavirus infections showed 1,392 hospitalizations on Sunday, an increase of 35 from 1,357 on Friday. The number of patients on ventilators rose by eight, to 162. 

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Region 4, which covers Acadiana, dropped by two, to 216 on Saturday, down from 218 on Friday. The number of patients on ventilators Saturday rose by eight, to 36.

Overall hospital bed occupancy in Region 4 was at 77.5 percent, with 1,211 of the region’s beds occupied and 351 available. The total number of reported beds was at 1,562.

Overall intensive care unit occupancy across Acadiana dropped Sunday, but remained over 90 percent. The ICU occupancy rate went from 97.5 percent Friday to 90.3 percent Saturday, with 139 of 154 beds occupied.

The occupancy rate is based on all cases, not just COVID-19 cases. But the burden of additional patient load affects the ability of hospitals to serve all patients, especially in critical care situations.

Broken down by age group, the number of cases statewide in the 18 to 29 demographic was at 54,700 Friday. It is the demographic group with the largest number of identified cases by far. The number of deaths reported in the group was 26. 

The number of COVID-19 cases identified in the 30 to 39 age group was at 40,105, with 92 deaths, followed closely by the 40 to 49 age group, with 36,692 cases and 207 deaths, and the 50 to 59 age range with 36,069 cases, including 552 fatalities reported. 

In the 60 to 69 age group, there were 28,418 cases reported and 1,199 deaths. This age group has the second-highest number of deaths, behind only the 70 and above demographic group.

The 70 and above group case count was at 27,482. The number of deaths in that group rose to 4,501 — still the largest number of fatalities for any age group by far, more than the number of deaths in all other groups combined and more than two-thirds of the total COVID-19 attributed deaths in the state.

The under 18 group, the smallest demographic segment, had 27,390 cases total — 5,064 age 4 and under — and seven reported deaths.

The state’s seven-day average of tests given as of Nov. 25 was 330.6 tests per 10,000 residents. The positivity rate among those tests remained at 7.7 percent, the same as it was on Nov. 11. The last time the state’s seven-day average was that high was on Aug. 12, when it was at 8.5 percent.

In Region 4 overall, the Nov. 25 numbers were slightly lower but still worse than the state average. The testing rate in the region dropped to 297.8 tests per 10,000 residents, while the seven-day average percent positive of those tests was well above the state average at 10.8 percent, down from 11.2 percent on Nov. 18.

According to Sunday’s update, labs in Louisiana have processed at least 3,717,930 COVID-19 tests so far. 

By gender, the state’s daily report shows women making up the largest part — 55 percent — of the identified COVID-19 cases in the state, with men comprising 44 percent and 1 percent unknown. On the other hand, the COVID-19 deaths are predominantly among men, 52.2 percent to 47.8 percent for women.

The number of presumed recovered cases, as of Nov. 30, rose to 202,891. In order to be considered recovered, a living patient must either be out of the hospital and 14 days past a positive test result, or 21 days past a positive test date if their hospitalization status is unknown.

On Dec. 2, the weekly update of fatalities by race showed the percentage of COVID-19 deaths among White victims continued to climb. Initially, LDH reported that 70 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the state were in the Black community. That number has since dropped to 43.13 percent as of Dec. 2, while White victims now make up 55.49 percent of all fatal cases. 

The Native American/Alaskan Native total was at 0.11 percent. Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander data remained at 0.08 percent. Other races identified include Asian at 0.68 percent, Unknown at 0.05 percent and Other at 0.42 percent.

That data is only reported once a week, updated on Wednesday.

The top three underlying conditions among COVID-19 deaths in the latest report were hypertension (64.03 percent), diabetes (37.77 percent), and neurological disorders (27.30 percent).

Other factors included cardiac disease (26.19 percent), chronic kidney disease (22.48 percent), obesity (20.62 percent), congestive heart failure (16.68 percent), pulmonary issues (14.43 percent), cancer (8.46 percent), and asthma (4.16 percent). Only 4.3 percent of all patients had no underlying conditions.