The Louisiana Department of Health COVID-19 update Thursday showed 407 new cases based on 15,128 new tests. That pushed the state’s total of identified cases to 442,620.

Of the overall identified cases, 378,515 are confirmed, with 64,105 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 2.7 percent.

Louisiana had 10,073 total COVID-19 deaths as of Thursday, with 17 new deaths added. Of the total deaths, 9,251are confirmed with 822 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 March 10.

Local numbers

In Iberia Parish, the number of cases rose to 6,622 Thursday, an increase of nine. Of those, 6,072 are confirmed, with 550 probable. The number of deaths remained at 150, with 137 confirmed and 13 probable. There have been 87,284 tests performed in the parish. The seven-day average test positivity dropped by 11.1 percent, from 3.6 percent on March 10 to 3.2 percent on March 17. The incidence of tests dropped by 60 percent, from 84.6 per 10,000 population on March 10 to 33.8 on March 17.

St. Martin Parish’s number of identified cases rose to 4,969, an increase of four, with 61,071 tests performed. The seven-day average test positivity rate rose from 3.5 percent on March 10 to 6.3 percent on March 17, a 1.6 percent decrease, while the testing incidence rate per 10,000 population dropped 2.4 percent, from 76.5 on March 10 to 74.6 on March 17. The number of deaths remained at 115, with 104 confirmed and 11 probable.

In St. Mary Parish, the seven-day positivity rate rose to 5.9 percent as of March 17, up from 4.2 percent on March 10, a 40.5 percent increase. The testing incidence rate per 10,000 population rose, from 120.5 on March 10 to 202.9 on March 17, a 68.3 percent increase. Total cases Friday rose to 4,440 after 54,436 tests. Of those positive tests, 3,507 are confirmed, with 933 probable. The number of COVID-19 deaths rose to 128, with 113 confirmed and 15 probable.

Around the state

In Lafayette Parish, the Thursday case count rose by 23, to 22,178, with the number of tests rising to 303,320. The seven-day test positivity average rose to 5.2 percent as of March 17, up 40.5 percent from 3.7 percent on March 10. The testing incidence rate per 10,000 population dropped during the same period, from 69.2 on March 10 to 60.6 on March 17, a 12.5 percent decrease. The number of deaths rose by two, to 269, with 250 confirmed and 19 probable.

The number of cases in Jefferson Parish rose to 44,896 on Thursday, compared to an increase to 29,113 in Orleans Parish. The latest data shows Orleans administered more tests, with 839,303, compared to 598,761 tests in Jefferson.

Jefferson Parish continues to surpass the COVID-19 death toll in Orleans Parish. Orleans Parish deaths remained at 779, with 728 confirmed and 51 probable. In Jefferson Parish, the total number of deaths was at 876, with 838 confirmed and 38 probable.

Hospitalizations

The LDH report showed hospitalizations statewide due to coronavirus infections dropped to 396 on Wednesday, down from 413. The number of patients on ventilators dropped by five, to 69.

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Region 4, which covers Acadiana, rose by two, to 54 Wednesday. The number of patients on ventilators rose by two, to nine.

Overall hospital bed occupancy in Region 4 Wednesday was at 73 percent, with 1,229 of the region’s beds occupied and 454 available. The total number of reported beds was at 1,683.

Overall intensive care unit occupancy across Acadiana was at 85.2 percent Wednesday, with 132 of 155 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 90,157 Thursday. It is the demographic group with the largest number of identified cases by far. The number of deaths reported in the group was 36.

The number of COVID-19 cases identified in the 30 to 39 age group was at 71,050, with 128 deaths, followed closely by the 40 to 49 age group, with 64,434 cases and 293 deaths, and the 50 to 59 age range with 63,712 cases, including 843 fatalities reported.

In the 60 to 69 age group, there were 50,999 cases reported and 1,904 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 45,435. The number of deaths in that group rose to 6,862 — 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 56,516 cases total — 10,319 age 4 and under — and seven reported deaths.

Seven-day average

The state’s seven-day average of tests given as of March 17 was 182.4 tests per 10,000 residents, down from 220.6 on March 10. The positivity rate among those tests rose a tenth of a point as of March 17 to 2.8 percent, up from 2.7 percent on March 10.

In Region 4, the March 17 testing rate was even lower, at 118.1 tests per 10,000 residents. The seven-day average percent positive of those tests was far higher than the state average at 5.2 percent, up from 3.8 percent on March 10.

According to Tuesday’s update, labs in Louisiana have processed 6,416,619 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, 53.1 percent to 46.9 percent for women.

The number of presumed recovered cases, as of March 22, rose to 429,935. 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 24, 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 0.8 percent, Unknown at 0 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 24 report were hypertension (62.8 percent), diabetes (36.9 percent), and cardiac disease (27.3 percent).

Other factors included neurological disorders (26.4 percent), chronic kidney disease (21.5 percent), obesity (21.1 percent), congestive heart failure (16.4 percent), pulmonary issues (14.3 percent), cancer (8.9 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.