The Louisiana Department of Health COVID-19 update Monday showed 840 new cases based on 31,850 new tests. That pushed the state’s total of identified cases to 443,905. 

Of the overall identified cases, 379,409 are confirmed, with 64,496 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 Monday was 2.6 percent. 

Louisiana had 10,122 total COVID-19 deaths as of Monday, with 35 new deaths added. Of the total deaths, 9,279 are confirmed with 843 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 24.

Local numbers

In Iberia Parish, the number of cases rose to 6,638 Monday. Of those, 6,080 are confirmed, with 558 probable. The number of deaths remained at 150, with 137 confirmed and 13 probable. There have been 87,737 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 4,991, with 61,334 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 Monday rose to 4,475, after 54,993 tests. Of those positive tests, 3,528 are confirmed, with 947 probable. The number of COVID-19 deaths remained at 128, with 113 confirmed and 15 probable. 

Around the state

In Lafayette Parish, the Monday case count rose to 22,252, with the number of tests rising to 305,100. 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 was at 270, with 250 confirmed and 20 probable. 

The number of cases in Jefferson Parish rose to 44,983 on Monday, compared to an increase to 29,193 in Orleans Parish. The latest data shows Orleans administered more tests, with 850,679, compared to 603,345 tests in Jefferson.

Jefferson Parish continues to surpass the COVID-19 death toll in Orleans Parish. Orleans Parish deaths were at 781, with 729 confirmed and 52 probable. In Jefferson Parish, the total number of deaths rose by one, to 877, with 838 confirmed and 39 probable.

Hospitalizations

The LDH report showed hospitalizations statewide due to coronavirus infections rose to 362 on Sunday, up from 359. The number of patients on ventilators also rose by three, to 62.

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Region 4, which covers Acadiana, remained at 57 Sunday. The number of patients on ventilators dropped by one, to nine.

Overall hospital bed occupancy in Region 4 Sunday was below 70 percent, at 67.4 percent, with 1,126 of the region’s beds occupied and 545 available. The total number of reported beds was at 1,671.

Overall intensive care unit occupancy across Acadiana was at 75.2 percent Sunday, with 115 of 153 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 90,422 Monday. 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 71,260, with 128 deaths, followed closely by the 40 to 49 age group, with 64,625 cases and 297 deaths, and the 50 to 59 age range with 63,898 cases, including 852 fatalities reported. 

In the 60 to 69 age group, there were 51,130 cases reported and 1,914 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 45,508. The number of deaths in that group rose to 6,888 — 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 56,744 cases total — 10,367 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 Friday’s update, labs in Louisiana have processed 6,466,421 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.