On Thursday, the Louisiana Department of Health COVID-19 update showed the state adding almost 3,000 new cases, almost two dozen new deaths and a continuing upward curve of coronavirus hospitalizations.

That comes a day after Wednesday’s update presented another dump of backlogged cases, driving the new infections reported in the state upward by more than 6,500 with 3,604 of them from as far back as April.

Wednesday’s data shows that intensive care units are almost at capacity in Region 4. The overall intensive care bed occupancy rate in Region 4 was at 97.4 percent Wednesday. There were 152 beds occupied and only four ICU beds still open of the 156 ICU beds available.

Overall hospital bed occupancy in Region 4 was at 83 percent, with 1,307 of the region’s beds occupied and 267 available. The total number of reported beds was at 1,574.

The LDH reporting on hospitalizations due to coronavirus infections showed 1,325 hospitalizations on Wednesday, an increase of 37 from 1,288 on Tuesday. The number of patients on ventilators rose by eight, to 142. 

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Region 4, which covers Acadiana, rose by eight, to 226 on Wednesday, up from 218 on Tuesday. The number of patients on ventilators Wednesday remained at 25.

The Thursday report showed 2,774 new cases in the state, with 26,111 new tests recorded. That raised the total identified infections so far in the state to 244,078. Of those, 230,029 are confirmed, with 14,049 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 Thursday’s tests is 10.6 percent.

According to the update, the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 rose to 6,524, an increase of 23 from 6,501 on Wednesday. Of those, 6,252 are confirmed, with 272  considered probable COVID-19 fatalities pending final testing. 

That rise represents an increase of 0.32 percent. The average age of fatal patients is 73, the median age 75.

The state’s seven-day average of tests given as of Nov. 25 was 330.6 tests per 10,000 residents. The positivity rate among those tests remained at 7.7 percent, the same as it was on Nov. 11. The last time the state’s seven-day average was that high was on Aug. 12, when it was at 8.5 percent.

In Region 4 overall, the Nov. 25 numbers were slightly lower but still worse than the state average. The testing rate in the region dropped to 297.8 tests per 10,000 residents, while the seven-day average percent positive of those tests was well above the state average at 10.8 percent, down from 11.2 percent on Nov. 18.

In Iberia Parish, the number of cases was at 3,832 Thursday, an increase of 59. Of those, 3,687 are confirmed, with 145 probable. The number of deaths remained at 110, 107 confirmed and three probable. There have been 45,734 tests performed in the parish. The seven-day average test positivity rose by 32.9 percent, from 8.7 percent on Nov. 18 to 11.3 percent on Nov. 25.

St. Martin Parish’s number of identified cases rose to 2,845, an increase of 33, with 38,060 tests performed. The seven-day average test positivity rate rose by a tenth of a percent, from 11.2 percent on Nov. 18 to 11.3 percent on Nov. 25. The number of deaths remained at 73, with 68 confirmed and five probable.

In St. Mary Parish, the seven-day positivity rate rose on Nov. 25 to 6.2 percent, from 5.1 percent on Nov. 18. Total cases rose to 2,426 after 28,969 tests. Of those cases, 2,317 are confirmed, with 109 probable. The number of COVID-19 deaths was at 96, with 90 confirmed and six probable. 

In Lafayette Parish, the Thursday case count rose by 165 to 12,674, with the number of tests rising to 189,729. The seven-day test positivity average dropped from 11.8 percent on Nov. 18 to 10.9 percent as of Nov. 25. The number of deaths rose Thursday to 156, with 153 confirmed and three probable. 

The number of cases in Jefferson Parish rose to 24,328 on Thursday, compared to 16,580 in Orleans Parish. The latest data shows Orleans administered more tests, with 452,147 in Orleans compared to 337,436 tests in Jefferson.

Despite lower case numbers, the more urban Orleans Parish has seen four more confirmed deaths than its suburban neighbor. Orleans Parish deaths rose by one to 649, with 610 confirmed and 39 probable. In Jefferson Parish, the total number of deaths rose to 631, with 606 confirmed and 25 probable. 

Broken down by age group, the number of cases statewide in the 18 to 29 demographic was at 53,388 Thursday. It is the demographic group with the largest number of identified cases by far. The number of deaths reported in the group was 27. 

The number of COVID-19 cases identified in the 30 to 39 age group was at 39,017, with 92 deaths, followed closely by the 40 to 49 age group, with 35,692 cases and 206 deaths, and the 50 to 59 age range with 35,054 cases, including 549 fatalities reported. 

In the 60 to 69 age group, there were 27,598 cases reported and 1,192 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 26,754. The number of deaths in that group rose to 4,452 — 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, the smallest demographic segment, had 26,355 cases total — 4,894 age 4 and under — and six reported deaths.

According to Tuesday’s update, labs in Louisiana have processed at least 3,645,006 COVID-19 tests so far. 

By gender, the state’s daily report shows women making up the largest part — 55 percent — of the identified COVID-19 cases in the state, with men comprising 44 percent and 1 percent unknown. On the other hand, the COVID-19 deaths are predominantly among men, 52.2 percent to 47.8 percent for women.

The number of presumed recovered cases, as of Nov. 30, rose to 202,891. 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.

On Dec. 2, the weekly update of fatalities by race showed the percentage of COVID-19 deaths among White victims continued to climb. Initially, LDH reported that 70 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the state were in the Black community. That number has since dropped to 43.13 percent as of Dec. 2, while White victims now make up 55.49 percent of all fatal cases. 

The Native American/Alaskan Native total was at 0.11 percent. Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander data remained at 0.08 percent. Other races identified include Asian at 0.68 percent, Unknown at 0.05 percent and Other at 0.42 percent.

That data is only reported once a week, updated on Wednesday.

The top three underlying conditions among COVID-19 deaths in the latest report were hypertension (64.03 percent), diabetes (37.77 percent), and neurological disorders (27.30 percent).

Other factors included cardiac disease (26.19 percent), chronic kidney disease (22.48 percent), obesity (20.62 percent), congestive heart failure (16.68 percent), pulmonary issues (14.43 percent), cancer (8.46 percent), and asthma (4.16 percent). Only 4.3 percent of all patients had no underlying conditions.