As COVID-19 infection numbers drop and vaccination percentages climb, Louisiana public health officials are easing limits on visitation for some of the state’s citizens most susceptible to the disease.

The Louisiana Department of Health issued instructions for all nursing and adult residential care facilities to relax visitation policies.

“Since restrictions were initially relaxed last October, the visitation program has gone remarkably well,” said state health officer Dr. Joseph Kanter. “We thank Louisianan facilities for their good work in creating safe environments for our most vulnerable residents and are thrilled to expand visitation further.”

Under the new guidelines, facilities should allow responsible indoor visitation at all times for all residents, regardless of a resident’s or visitor’s vaccination status, except when:

Parishes where the positivity rate is greater than 10 percent and less than 70 percent of residents in the facility are fully vaccinated,

Residents with confirmed COVID infections, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, until after the isolation period, or

Residents in quarantine because they have been exposed to a positive case, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, until they have met the criteria for release from quarantine.

The state’s new guidance emphasized that facilities should continue to practice COVID infection control procedures, including social distancing and conducting visits outdoors whenever possible.

Top level numbers decline

The LDH update Friday showed 528 new COVID-19 cases based on 26,858 new tests, pushing the state’s total of identified cases to 436,482.

Of the overall identified cases, 374,421 are confirmed, with 62,061 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 Friday was 1.96 percent.

Louisiana had 9,861 total COVID-19 deaths as of Friday, with 33 new deaths added. Of the total deaths, 9,122 are confirmed with 739 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 6,567 Friday, an increase of nine. Of those, 6,025 are confirmed, with 542 probable. The number of deaths remained at 148, with 136 confirmed and 12 probable. There have been 85,088 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 rose to 4,888, an increase of five, with 59,704 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 rose by one, to 114, with 103 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 Friday rose by 11, to 4,245, after 52,166 tests. Of those positive tests, 3,396 are confirmed, with 849 probable. The number of COVID-19 deaths rose by one, to 124, with 110 confirmed and 14 probable.

Around the state

In Lafayette Parish, the Friday case count rose by 34, to 21,861, with the number of tests rising to 296,423. 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 one, to 265, with 247 confirmed and 18 probable.

The number of cases in Jefferson Parish rose to 44,467 on Friday, an increase of 48, compared to an increase of 23, to 28,844, in Orleans Parish. The latest data shows Orleans administered more tests, with 804,289, compared to 579,703 tests in Jefferson.

Jefferson Parish continues to surpass the COVID-19 death toll in Orleans Parish. Orleans Parish deaths remained at 770, with 721 confirmed and 49 probable. In Jefferson Parish, the total number of deaths rose by one, to 862, with 829 confirmed and 33 probable.

Hospitalizations

The LDH reporting showed hospitalizations statewide due to coronavirus infections dropped by 36, to 478 on Thursday. The number of patients on ventilators dropped by one, to 63.

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Region 4, which covers Acadiana, dropped by five, to 51 Thursday. The number of patients on ventilators remained at seven.

Overall hospital bed occupancy in Region 4 Thursday was above 70 percent, at 72.9 percent, with 1,219 of the region’s beds occupied and 451 available. The total number of reported beds was at 1,670.

Overall intensive care unit occupancy across Acadiana was up half a point Thursday, at 83.1 percent, with 128 of 154 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 88,954 Friday. 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 69,989, with 127 deaths, followed closely by the 40 to 49 age group, with 63,470 cases and 287 deaths, and the 50 to 59 age range with 62,869 cases, including 820 fatalities reported.

In the 60 to 69 age group, there were 50,425 cases reported and 1,857 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 45,129. The number of deaths in that group rose to 6,729 — 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 55,331 cases total — 10,097 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 Friday’s update, labs in Louisiana have processed 6,206,045 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.