The Louisiana Department of Health added 879 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday based on 27,057 new tests, pushing the state’s total of identified cases to 426,925. 

Of the overall identified cases, 367,582 are confirmed, with 59,343 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 the new cases reported Wednesday was 3.2 percent. 

Louisiana had 9,528 total COVID-19 deaths as of Wednesday, with 25 new deaths added. Of the total deaths, 8,860 are confirmed with 668 considered probable COVID-19 fatalities pending final testing.

The average age of fatal patients remained at 75, while the median age was at 76 as of Feb. 24.

Local numbers

In Iberia Parish, the number of cases rose to 6,434 Wednesday, an increase of five. Of those, 5,916 are confirmed, with 518 probable. The number of deaths remained at 145, with 133 confirmed and 12 probable. There have been 80,939 tests performed in the parish. The seven-day average test positivity rose 13.8 percent, from 5.8 percent on Feb. 10 to 6.6 percent on Feb. 17. The incidence of tests dropped by 61 percent, from 191.7 per 10,000 population on Feb. 10 to 74.7 on Feb. 17.

St. Martin Parish’s number of identified cases dropped to 4,811, a decrease of two, with 57,651 tests performed. The seven-day average test positivity rate dropped from 5.6 percent on Feb. 10  to 5.4 percent on Feb. 17, a 3.6 percent decrease, while the testing incidence rate per 10,000 population dropped 63.2 percent, from 126.8 on Feb. 10 to 46.6 on Feb. 17. The number of deaths remained at 111, with 102 confirmed and nine probable.

In St. Mary Parish, the seven-day positivity rate rose to 6 percent as of Feb. 17, up from 3.8 percent on Feb. 10, a 57.9 percent increase. The testing incidence rate per 10,000 population dropped, from 138.6 on Feb. 10 to 96.4 on Feb. 17. Total cases Wednesday remained at 4,096, after 49,449 tests. Of those positive tests, 3,307 are confirmed, with 789 probable. The number of COVID-19 deaths remained at 120, with 108 confirmed and 12 probable. 

Around the state

In Lafayette Parish, the Wednesday case count rose by four, to 21,485, with the number of tests rising to 283,165. The seven-day test positivity average rose from 3.7 percent on Feb. 10 to 4.5  percent as of Feb. 17, an increase of 21.6 percent. The testing incidence rate per 10,000 population dropped during the same period, from 103 to 60.1, a 41.6 percent decrease. The number of deaths remained at 260, with 242 confirmed and 18 probable.

Although Lafayette Parish showed an increase in test positivity rate, having less than 5 percent positivity for two consecutive weeks allowed Lafayette Parish President Josh Guillory to ask that the parish be allowed to open bars for indoor service. Guillory filed his letter making the request with Gov. John Bel Edwards Wednesday afternoon.

The number of cases in Jefferson Parish rose to 43,602 on Wednesday, an increase of 82, compared to an increase of 95, to 28,259, in Orleans Parish. The latest data shows Orleans administered more tests, with 748,771, compared to 550,428 tests in Jefferson.

Jefferson Parish continues to surpass the COVID-19 death toll in Orleans Parish. Orleans Parish deaths remained at 757, with 710 confirmed and 47 probable. In Jefferson Parish, the total number of deaths remained at 834, with 803 confirmed and 31 probable.

Hospitalizations

The LDH reporting on hospitalizations statewide due to coronavirus infections dropped to 687 on Tuesday, a decrease of 28 from 715 on Monday. The number of patients on ventilators dropped by nine, to 102.

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Region 4, which covers Acadiana, remained at 57 Tuesday. The number of patients on ventilators remained at 11.

Overall hospital bed occupancy in Region 4 Tuesday dropped to 74.2 percent, with 1,236 of the region’s beds occupied and 429 available. The total number of reported beds was at 1,665.

Overall intensive care unit occupancy across Acadiana neared 90 percent Tuesday, at 89 percent, with 145 of 163 beds occupied.

The overall occupancy percentages are based on all cases, not just COVID-19 cases, and includes not only the physical bed and space but also the staff required to issue care. The burden of additional patient load affects the ability of hospitals to serve all patients, especially in critical care situations.

By age group

Broken down by age group, the number of cases statewide in the 18 to 29 demographic was at 87,123 Wednesday. It is the demographic group with the largest number of identified cases by far. The number of deaths reported in the group was 31. 

The number of COVID-19 cases identified in the 30 to 39 age group was at 68,465, with 124 deaths, followed closely by the 40 to 49 age group, with 62,060 cases and 274 deaths, and the 50 to 59 age range with 61,444 cases, including 791 fatalities reported. 

In the 60 to 69 age group, there were 49,437 cases reported and 1,788 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 44,573. The number of deaths in that group rose to 6,513 — 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 had 53,512 cases total — 9,758 age 4 and under — and seven reported deaths.

Seven-day average

The state’s seven-day average of tests given as of Feb. 17 was 159.8 tests per 10,000 residents, down almost half from 300.5 on Feb. 10. The positivity rate among those tests rose by a tenth of a point as of Feb. 17 to 5 percent, up from 4.9 percent on Feb. 10. 

In Region 4, the Feb. 17 testing rate was even lower, at  153.9 tests per 10,000 residents. The seven-day average percent positive of those tests was lower than the state average at 4.7 percent, up from 4.6 percent on Feb. 10.

According to Wednesday’s update, labs in Louisiana have processed 5,849,311 COVID-19 tests so far.

Gender, underlying conditions

On Wednesday, the state updated its demographic info on COVID-19 deaths for the first time since Jan. 27.

By gender, the state’s weekly report shows women still making up the largest part — 56 percent — of the identified COVID-19 cases in the state, with men comprising 44 percent. On the other hand, the COVID-19 deaths are predominantly among men, 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent for women.

The number of presumed recovered cases, as of Feb. 22, rose to 408,463. 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.

Initially, LDH reported that 70 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the state were in the Black community. That number dropped to 38.7 percent as of Feb. 24, while White victims now make up 59.8 percent of all fatal cases. 

The Native American/Alaskan Native total was at 0.15 percent. Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander data remained at 0.08 percent. Other races identified include Asian at 0.77 percent, Unknown at 0.01 percent and Other at 0.41 percent.

That data is supposed to be reported once every two weeks as of the beginning of the year.

The top three underlying conditions among COVID-19 deaths in the Feb. 24 report were hypertension (62.8 percent), diabetes (37 percent), and cardiac disease (26.7 percent).

Other factors included neurological disorders (26.3 percent), chronic kidney disease (21.5 percent), obesity (21 percent), congestive heart failure (16.3 percent), pulmonary issues (14.6 percent), cancer (8.8 percent), and asthma (4.1 percent). Only 4.2 percent of all patients had no underlying conditions.

Dwayne Fatherree is the community editor for The Daily Iberian. He can be reached at dwayne.fatherree@daily-iberian.com.