Local COVID-19 cases top 800

More than 800 Lincoln Parish residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic reached Louisiana in March, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.

Figures released at noon Monday show Lincoln Parish with a cumulative 805 cases of the potentially fatal respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

But LDH notes that statewide “laboratory reporting appears to be incomplete, potentially affecting case and test counts.”

The department’s website said the LDH technical staff was investigating.

COVID-19 cases have been rising steadily for several months. During August alone, 89 new cases of the virus have been added to the count. The parish averages between eight and 10 new cases per day.

However, the positivity rate — the percentage of total COVID-19 tests that come back positive — has dropped over 30%, at least for the period ending July 29.

From July 16-22, LDH posted the parish positivity rate at approximately 14%. For the period July 23-29, the number had dropped to 9.2%. LDH has not yet reported the rates for August.

So far, 31 Lincoln Parish residents have died of COVID-19. LDH typically posts a racial breakdown of deaths in parishes with 25 or more fatal cases; however, nothing appears in the Lincoln Parish column on the LDH website. The data is supposed to be updated every Wednesday.