14 new COVID cases, one death in local parishes

Fourteen new COVID cases, 10 of them in St. Martin, and one new fatality in St. Mary were reported for three local parishes Friday by the Louisiana Office of Public Health.

Four new COVID cases were reported Friday in St. Mary, where 2,015 cases have been recorded since the pandemic began. The fatality reported Friday was the parish's 85th.

The 10 St. Martin cases raise the total there to 2,201. Assumption's count was reduced by one to 793.

Sixty-three deaths have been reported in St. Martin and 24 in Assumption.

Statewide:

--696 new cases raise the pandemic total to 178,870.

--21 new fatalities raise the total to 5,614.

--22 more COVID-positive people are hospitalized for a total of 620. It was the third increase in hospitalizations in four days.

--The number of people on ventilators rose by 1 to 65.