The Louisiana Department of Health added 441 new COVID-19 cases Thursday based on 24,881 new tests, pushing the state’s total of identified cases to 435,935.

Of the overall identified cases, 373,972 are confirmed, with 61,963 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 Thursday was 1.8 percent.

Louisiana had 9,828 total COVID-19 deaths as of Tuesday, with 11 new deaths added. Of the total deaths, 9,094 are confirmed with 734 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 6,558 Thursday, an increase of one. Of those, 6,016 are confirmed, with 542 probable. The number of deaths remained at 148, with 136 confirmed and 12 probable. There have been 84,238 tests performed in the parish. The seven-day average test positivity dropped 17 percent, from 4.7 percent on Feb. 24 to 3.9 percent on March 3. The incidence of tests dropped by 44.6 percent, from 117 per 10,000 population on Feb. 24 to 64.8 on March 3.

St. Martin Parish’s number of identified cases dropped to 4,883, a decrease of six, with 59,518 tests performed. The seven-day average test positivity rate dropped from 4.5 percent on Feb. 24 to 3.5 percent on March 3, a 22.2 percent decrease, while the testing incidence rate per 10,000 population dropped 15.8 percent, from 70.87 on Feb. 24 to 59.68 on March 3. The number of deaths remained at 113, with 102 confirmed and 11 probable.

In St. Mary Parish, the seven-day positivity rate rose to 6.2 percent as of March 3, up from 4.3 percent on Feb. 24, a 44.2 percent increase. The testing incidence rate per 10,000 population dropped, from 140.6 on Feb. 24 to 132.6 on March 3. Total cases Thursday rose to 4,234 after 51,867 tests. Of those positive tests, 3,391 are confirmed, with 843 probable. The number of COVID-19 deaths remained at 123, with 109 confirmed and 14 probable.

Around the state

In Lafayette Parish, the Friday case count rose by 22, to 21,827, with the number of tests rising to 295,516. The seven-day test positivity average rose from 3 percent on Feb. 24 to 3.6 percent as of March 3, an increase of 20 percent. The testing incidence rate per 10,000 population rose during the same period, from 62.2 to 65.5, a 5.3 percent increase. The number of deaths rose by two, to 264, with 246 confirmed and 18 probable.

The number of cases in Jefferson Parish rose to 44,419 on Thursday, compared to an increase to 28,821 in Orleans Parish. The latest data shows Orleans administered more tests, with 801,566, compared to 577,859 tests in Jefferson.

Jefferson Parish continues to surpass the COVID-19 death toll in Orleans Parish. Orleans Parish deaths roseby one top 770, with 721 confirmed and 49 probable. In Jefferson Parish, the total number of deaths rose to 861, with 828 confirmed and 33 probable.

Hospitalizations

The LDH reporting showed hospitalizations statewide due to coronavirus infections dropped by 16, to 514 on Wednesday. The number of patients on ventilators dropped by five, to 64.

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Region 4, which covers Acadiana, dropped by six, to 56 Wednesday. The number of patients on ventilators dropped by two, to seven.

Overall hospital bed occupancy in Region 4 Wednesday was back above 70 percent, at 71.9 percent, with 1,204 of the region’s beds occupied and 470 available. The total number of reported beds was at 1,674.

Overall intensive care unit occupancy across Acadiana was above 80 percent Wednesday, at 82.6 percent, with 123 of 149 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 88,842 Thursday. It is the demographic group with the largest number of identified cases by far. The number of deaths reported in the group was 34.

The number of COVID-19 cases identified in the 30 to 39 age group was at 69,910, with 125 deaths, followed closely by the 40 to 49 age group, with 63,397 cases and 284 deaths, and the 50 to 59 age range with 62,786 cases, including 815 fatalities reported.

In the 60 to 69 age group, there were 50,377 cases reported and 1,852 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 45,091. The number of deaths in that group rose to 6,711 — 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 55,217 cases total — 10,077 age 4 and under — and seven reported deaths.

Seven-day average

The state’s seven-day average of tests given as of March 3 was 223.3 tests per 10,000 residents, down from 249.3 on Feb. 24. The positivity rate among those tests dropped by four-tenths of a point as of March 3 to 3.2 percent, down from 3.6 percent on Feb. 24.

In Region 4, the March 3 testing rate was even lower, at 194.4 tests per 10,000 residents. The seven-day average percent positive of those tests was higher than the state average at 3.9 percent, up from 3.5 percent on Feb. 24.

According to Thursday’s update, labs in Louisiana have processed 6,179,187 COVID-19 tests so far.

Gender, underlying conditions

By gender, the state’s bi-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, 53.2 percent to 46.8 percent for women.

The number of presumed recovered cases, as of March 8, rose to 420,459. 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 38.4 percent as of March 10, while White victims now make up 60.1 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 0.81 percent, Unknown at 0.01 percent and Other at 0.4 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 March 3 report were hypertension (62.7 percent), diabetes (36.9 percent), and cardiac disease (27 percent).

Other factors included neurological disorders (26.3 percent), chronic kidney disease (21.4 percent), obesity (21.1 percent), congestive heart failure (16.3 percent), pulmonary issues (14.7 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.