Parish exceeds 4,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases

Lincoln Parish has topped the 4,000 mark in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began here in March of 2020.

According to Wednesday’s report from the Louisiana Department of Health, the parish count now stands at 4,012 confirmed cases. That’s 36 more cases than were reported on Tuesday. So far this month, the number of confirmed cases has increased by 291.

LDH also shows the parish with 1,735 probable cases. That number is cumulative to the start of the pandemic. Probable cases are patients with a positive test detecting SARS-CoV-2 antigens in a clinical specimen, but who have not been identified with a positive confirmatory test, according to LDH.

Meantime, the both the confirmed and probable coronavirus death counts have jumped for the second time this month. As of Tuesday, COVID-19 had claimed the lives of 90 parish residents. That’s up by two from a week ago.

Probable deaths are now at 10, an increase of one over a week’s time. LDH defines probable deaths as deaths that occur when an individual meets the probable case criteria, or deaths of individuals that meet COVID criteria, but were no COVID lab testing available.

The parish COVID vaccination rate has increased to almost 32%, based on figures from LDH and the Centers for Disease Control.