The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and patients on ventilators across the state continued their decline according to data released Monday as the intensive care unit bed occupancy continued to drop, landing around 85 percent in Region 4 as of Sunday.

According to Monday’s data from the Louisiana Department of Health, the state data showed the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients at 1,276 Sunday, down 28 from 1,304 Saturday. Over the same period, the data showed the number of patients on ventilators decreased Sunday to 235, down four from Saturday’s total of 239.

In Region 4, which encompasses the Acadiana area, hospitalizations dropped Sunday to 161, down five from 166 Saturday. The region’s number of ventilator cases dropped to 256, down one from 26 Saturday.

Region 4’s ICU bed occupancy dropped to 143. There were 25 ICU beds available across the seven-parish area. That put the percentage of occupied ICU beds down to 85.1 percent. 

In Region 3, which stretches from St. Mary Parish east to Lafourche and north to St. Charles, 34 of 42 ICU beds were occupied as of Thursday, but that total is down by 54 from the 96 ICU beds available prior to Hurricane Ida’s passage. To the west, where Region 5 encompasses the area from Allen, Jefferson Davis and Cameron parishes to the Texas-Louisiana state line, 23 of 80 reported ICU beds were available.

The overall hospital bed occupancy in Region 4 dropped to 72.7 percent Sunday, with 464 of 1,698 beds available.

As of Sept. 8, the state’s seven-day COVID-19 test percent positivity was at 10 percent, down from 11.3 percent on Sept. 1. 

In Iberia Parish, the seven-day test positivity average was at 13.4 percent on Sept. 8, down from 18.1 percent on Sept. 1. In St. Martin Parish, the percentage dropped by a third on Sept. 8, from 14.5 percent on Sept. 1 to 9.7 percent on Sept. 8. St. Mary Parish saw an even larger decrease, from 17.8 percent on Sept. 1 to 11.4 percent on Sept. 8, a 36 percent drop.

Iberia Parish had logged 12,098 COVID-19 cases as of Monday, an increase of 38. The parish COVID-19 death toll rose by three, to 216. In St. Martin Parish, new cases identified brought the total there to 8,121, an increase of 48. The number of deaths remained at 153.

In St. Mary Parish, new cases rose to 8,247, an increase of 50, with deaths rising by one, to 206.

According to Monday’s LDH update, the number of COVID-19 cases reported rose by 3,194 since Friday, to 728,831. The state also recorded 55 new deaths since Friday, bringing the total as of Monday to 13,473.