New COVID-19 cases of coronavirus and hospitalizations have reached a plateau higher than the virus’ initial peak in Acadiana after weeks of mounting increases.
Acadiana reported 262 new cases of the virus across the eight-parish region Monday after combining for 611 new cases across Saturday and Sunday. Monday’s new cases came across 3,671 new tests reported for a one-day positivity rate of 7.1%, compared to 8.5% in the past week.
Monday’s new cases put Acadiana at 18,373 total confirmed infections across more than 200,000 tests for 9.2% overall positivity rate for the region.
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Acadiana saw the largest increase in new cases across the state Monday, far outpacing the Baton Rouge region's 167 reported infections. In the past week, the Baton Rouge area has led the state in new cases at 1,933, though the Acadiana region marks a close second at 1,762.
Monday’s 262 new COVID-19 cases follow a week that averaged 269 new cases a day in the region, suggesting the virus’ spread has reached a new plateau that is higher than its initial peak in Acadiana.
The region saw new cases of COVID-19 peak for the first time in late March and early April, when Acadiana’s eight parishes combined for an average 66 new cases of COVID-19 reported each day, while the New Orleans area led the state with more than 630 new cases a day.
But new cases and hospitalizations for the virus peaked again in Acadiana after the state entered Phase 2 of reopening in early June, with daily caseload increases topping out at an average 455 new cases in the eight-parish region each day from July 20-26.
That trend slowed in the past week, as new cases per day dropped back to mid-June levels, suggesting the virus’s spread may have reached another plateau in the region in recent days. Last week’s new infections marked a 40% decrease in cases per day in Acadiana between the past seven days and July’s peak spread.
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Acadiana’s mid-July peak and recent plateau follows a similar trend across the state as all of Louisiana’s health regions except Baton Rouge have seen new cases decrease in the past week from higher levels of spread just a couple weeks ago.
New cases per day in Shreveport dropped 23% last week from a peak of 227 per day on average from July 20-26, while new cases in the Monroe area dropped 22% from a mid-July peak of 163 new cases per day on average.
Hospitalizations in Acadiana have also started to decline after reaching unprecedented levels in mid-July.
The region’s hospitalizations peaked on July 22 at 304 COVID-19 patients requiring hospital care, though that excludes St. Mary Parish. That figure fell to 256 patients Monday, the lowest total in nearly three weeks.
The decline in new cases of COVID-19 in Acadiana comes as the number of tests reported in the region has trended down by about 30% in the past week. But the share of test results that have come back positive has also dropped in the past week, from just over 10% in the two weeks before to 8.5% in the seven days leading up to Monday, suggesting a smaller share of the region’s population is actively infected with the virus.
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So far, deaths from COVID-19 are the only metric that doesn’t appear to have plateaued following a second spike, as many of the coronavirus cases reported in Acadiana’s second wave have been among young people, who are less likely to suffer the virus’ worst effects.
Deaths from COVID-19 are also a lagging indicator of the virus’ spread, as patients typically go as long as three weeks between being diagnosed with COVID-19 and either recovering or dying from the disease
Acadiana’s eight parish reported a combined nine new deaths Monday after reporting seven deaths over the weekend. Five of Monday’s deaths came from Acadia parish, while two were reported in Iberia Parish and one each was reported in Lafayette and St. Landry parishes, putting the region at 414 total lives lost to the virus.
The eight-parish region has averaged seven reported COVID-19 deaths per day in the past two weeks, compared to the region’s first-wave peak of five deaths per day between April 20-26.
In Acadiana, the largest number of new infections reported Monday came from Lafayette Parish, which added 73 cases of the virus to reach 6,423 total infections. Lafayette was followed by 53 new cases in Vermilion Parish and 43 new cases in St. Landry Parish.
New cases in Acadiana on Monday mark a 1.4% increase over Sunday’s total, putting it above the statewide caseload increase of 0.9%.
Across the state, 1,496 patients were hospitalized, down by 38 from Sunday, and 230 needed ventilator care Monday, an increase of nine patients.
Louisiana reported 1,099 new COVID-19 cases Monday, the smallest single-day increase in cases since June. Monday’s new cases came across more than 14,000 new tests for a positivity rate of 7.6%, compared to 8.9% for the state in the past seven days.
New cases Friday put the state at 120,846 total infections, up 10,929 in the past week, while 17 new deaths statewide marked an increase of 0.4% to put Louisiana at 3,910 lives lost.
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