The Louisiana Department of Health daily update Thursday shows the number of cases in the state closing in on 10,000 as the number of COVID-19 deaths in the state climbs above 300.

The total identified cases in the state are at 9,150, a rise of 2,726 from Wednesday’s total of 6,424 — a 42 percent increase in the last 24 hours. The number of recorded deaths sat at 310, an increase of In a radio interview Thursday morning,  Gov. John Bel Edwards attributed the dramatic increase in identified cases to a “logjam” in the reporting of testing results which broke, making several days worth of data available today.

In Iberia Parish, the total of identified cases rose Thursday to 67, a 31 percent increase. The parish saw its first COVID-19 related death Wednesday.

St. Martin Parish saw its cases rise from 41 to 58, an increase of 41 percent. That total includes three COVID-19-attributed deaths which were reported last week.

In St. Mary Parish, the number of cases rose from 26 on Wednesday to 42 in today’s report, or a 62 percent increase in 24 hours. There have been no reported COVID-19 deaths there as of Thursday.

Lafayette Parish saw an increase to 247 identified cases, a 55 percent increase from Wednesday’s 159 cases. Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory confirmed the second death in Lafayette Parish from the disease at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. The parish reported its first death related to COVID-19 Friday.

The dramatic rise in identified coronavirus infections comes as local parishes begin their own drive-through testing events. Although Lafayette Parish has been doing regular drive-through testing for more than a week, Iberia Medical Center only held its second one Wednesday at North Lewis Elementary School, drawing 74 attendees.

New Orleans is at 3,148 cases, up 39 percent from 2,270 on Wednesday. The parish logged 10 additional deaths overnight, climbing to 125. The Jefferson Parish case count has risen 52 percent to 2,178 from 1,433 on Wednesday, with 73 deaths.

The number of hospitalized patients has also grown. Currently there are 1,639 patients in hospital beds across the state, with 507 of them requiring ventilators to breathe, an increase of 52. That is up from 1,498 patients, 490 on ventilators Tuesday.

Edwards said earlier in the week that if Louisiana’s number of cases continues to grow at this rate and the state is unable to flatten the curve, the New Orleans area could run out of ventilators by April 5 and hospital beds by April 12. 

The state health department has added a section to its report tracking the number of hospital beds, ventilators and intensive care beds available in each region. Although none is at capacity yet, the state is not expected to hit its maximum resource demand until late next week. Projections from a team at Washington State University show the state hitting its peak resource use on April 10, with its peak deaths coming on April 12, with 85 dead that day.

The state’s reference laboratory has performed 3,901 tests as of Wednesday’s report. Commercial laboratories have added another 47,185 tests.

The current number of Louisiana COVID-19 cases identified in the 50-59 age range, the largest group of confirmed cases, rose 595 Thursday to 1,929 — a 45 percent increase, including 43 fatalities. In the 40 to 49 age group, the number of cases has risen to 1,714 with 21 deaths reported. In the 60 to 69 age group, there were 1,640 cases reported and 47 deaths. The 70 and above group case count rose to 1,470 cases. The number of deaths in that group rose to 184 — the largest number of fatalities for any age group and more than the number of deaths in all other groups combined.

There are 1,454 identified cases in the 30-39 age group, and 10 deaths. The 18 to 29 age group has 878 cases, up from 632, and four reported deaths. The under 18 group has 65 cases total, with one death reported.

Women continue to make up the largest part — 55 percent — of the identified COVID-19 cases in the state. Men make up 40 percent, with 5 percent listed as unknown or other.