Friday's numbers saw an above average spike in new coronavirus cases for one parish in Acadiana.
While most numbers for parishes in the area remained relatively normal, Calcasieu Parish saw an abnormally high spike in new COVID-19 cases. On Friday, the Louisiana Department of Health reported 49 new cases for Calcasieu, bringing their total to 439.
An explanation to the large increase is discussed at the end of this article.
Deaths in Acadiana were low in Friday's report across the region with only five. New case numbers with the help of Calcasieu Parish were up to 82.
Acadiana is reporting 2,060 cases with 172 deaths in total as of May 1.
St. Mary Parish, which has just shy of 200 COVID-19 cases has 23 deaths overall. Three deaths were added along with 2 new positive tests. The other two deaths come from St. Landry Parish, which continues to see a steady increase in fatalities from the novel coronavirus. St. Landry has the highest number of deaths for the region with 44. Their case count is at 181.
St. Martin and Lafayette Parishes both saw a boost in new COVID-19 cases being reported. In the May 1st update, St. Martin added 9 new cases while Lafayette added 8. Their totals are 241 and 463 respectively.
Four new cases were shown for Iberia Parish. This is the first time in several days that no new deaths have been reported for the parish. They have a case total of 261 and 21 deaths.
Acadia parish reports 3 new coronavirus cases while Vermilion and Evangeline Parish added two. These parishes have seen very little change in numbers over the past week. Deaths were noted in both Acadia and Evangeline Parishes this week.
Jeff Davis Parish added only one new case of the novel coronavirus for a total of 63.
The number of cases in the state also rose considerably with the addition of new lab tests being reported.
On Friday, the Department reports 710 new cases, of which 381 came from two labs that are new to reporting. These labs previously have not reported and are now reporting all their historic lab results electronically.
This means 329 of the 710 new cases came from the rest of the regular reporting across the state. We expect to see more labs across the state onboarding in a similar fashion over the next two weeks as we work to quickly ramp up testing across the state and ensure the state has the most comprehensive data on testing.
To see state numbers, click here.
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