St. Mary listed as 'highest risk' for COVID-19

As the push to speed up COVID-19 vaccinations continues, St. Mary is one of two Louisiana parishes listed as being at the highest risk for the spread of the coronavirus.
But the virus is still spreading more slowly than last winter at the peak of the third wave of COVID-19 infections.
Pointe Coupee is the other highest-risk parish. St. Martin is considered to be at high risk, a step down on the state’s scale, and Assumption is categorized as a parish with moderate risk.
St. Mary’s incidence rate, the frequency with which new COVID-19 cases are detected, is up slightly to about 7%, Coroner Eric Melancon said in an email Thursday.
Earlier in pandemic, the Louisiana Office of Public Health used a 10% positivity rate on COVID tests as the threshold for the highest-risk parishes.
The number of COVID-related deaths in St. Mary has remained low when compared with the peak of the winter’s third surge of coronavirus cases.
Thirteen St. Mary people died in January, Melancon said.
The number of fatalities dipped to three in February, eight in March, three in April and two in June.
In all, 5,114 COVID positives have been detected in St. Mary after about 65,000 tests, according to the Louisiana Office of Public Health.
The parish death toll stands at 143.
In St. Martin, 5,584 people have tested positive for coronavirus through 73,000 tests, and 118 people have died.
Assumption’s case count is at 2,334 after 27,000 tests with a death toll of 23.
Most COVID-19 mitigation measures in Louisiana, including a statewide mask mandate and occupancy restrictions at public buildings, have been lifted as the number of new cases, deaths and hospitalizations has dwindled this year. Public health officials say the strategy of targeting nursing homes with about half the vaccine doses available soon after their release was especially effective in protecting a vulnerable population.
Some restrictions remain. A sign in the elevator at the St. Mary Parish Courthouse in Franklin warns that masks are still required on the sixth floor. The St. Mary School Board agenda for Thursday’s monthly meeting includes discussion of mask rules for the 2021-22 school year.
Other officials are urging people to lift the low vaccination rate in local parishes and across the state.
Louisiana ranks near the bottom of U.S. states in adult vaccinations.
St. Mary’s vaccination rate rose by more than half a point this week to 28.65%. Public vaccination events were conducted Saturday at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City and at the Amelia Belle Casino.
The rate is 28.29% in St. Martin and 29.37% in Assumption.
Meanwhile, nola.com reported Wednesday that the first case of the “Delta-plus” COVID variant has been confirmed in Louisiana. The case was in the New Orleans area.
The Delta variant is worrisome because it is more easily spread and inhibits some of the body’s ability to develop resistance to the virus, public health officials say.