On Monday, the Louisiana Department of Health update showed the state adding another 1,000 new COVID-19 cases since Sunday’s update.

The LDH dashboard showed Louisiana added 1,016 cases Monday with 10,915 new tests recorded. That raised the total identified infections so far in the state to 252,136. Of those, 236,879 are confirmed, with 15,257 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 Monday’s tests is 9.3 percent.

According to the update, the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 rose to 6,607, an increase of 23 from 6,584 on Sunday. Of those, 6,331 are confirmed, with 276  considered probable COVID-19 fatalities pending final testing. 

That rise represents an increase of 0.35 percent. The average age of fatal patients is 73, the median age 75.

In Iberia Parish, the number of cases was at 3,941 Monday, an increase of 24. Of those, 3,782 are confirmed, with 159 probable. The number of deaths remained at 110, 107 confirmed and three probable. There have been 46,981 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 2,935, an increase of 11, with 38,753 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 remained at 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 2,488, an increase of four, after 29,737 tests. Of those cases, 2,364 are confirmed, with 124 probable. The number of COVID-19 deaths remained at 97, with 91 confirmed and six probable. 

In Lafayette Parish, the Sunday case count rose by 42, to 13,096, with the number of tests rising to 193,412. 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 remained at 158, with 155 confirmed and three probable. 

The number of cases in Jefferson Parish rose by 129 to 25,072 on Monday, compared to an increase of 69, to 17,082 in Orleans Parish. The latest data shows Orleans administered more tests, with 463,412 in Orleans compared to 346,289 tests in Jefferson.

Despite lower case numbers, the more urban Orleans Parish has seen four more confirmed deaths than its suburban neighbor. Orleans Parish deaths rose by one, to 650, with 610 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 1,423 hospitalizations on Sunday, an increase of 31 from 1,392 on Saturday. The number of patients on ventilators dropped by one, to 161. 

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Region 4, which covers Acadiana, dropped by four, to 212 on Sunday, down from 216 on Saturday. The number of patients on ventilators Sunday dropped by one, to 35.

Overall hospital bed occupancy in Region 4 was at 76.6 percent, with 1,182 of the region’s beds occupied and 369 available. The total number of reported beds was at 1,544.

Overall intensive care unit occupancy across Acadiana remained over 90 percent Monday. The ICU occupancy continued to hover at 90.3 percent, 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 54,922 Monday. 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 40,244, with 93 deaths, followed closely by the 40 to 49 age group, with 36,811 cases and 208 deaths, and the 50 to 59 age range with 36,208 cases, including 554 fatalities reported. 

In the 60 to 69 age group, there were 28,534 cases reported and 1,201 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 27,614. The number of deaths in that group rose to 4,518 — 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 27,536 cases total — 5,094 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 Monday’s update, labs in Louisiana have processed at least 3,728,845 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.