38 new COVID cases, no deaths in St. Mary since Tuesday

No deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in St. Mary since Tuesday, and only 38 new cases since then were reported by the Louisiana Office of Public Health at noon Friday.

The pandemic case count for the parish now stands at 8,392. The death toll remains at 209, including 62 deaths that have occurred here since Aug. 1. Nearly 2,500 new St. Mary Parish cases have been recorded since the Delta variant of COVID arrived in early July.

Statewide, the statistics continue to show that we're past the peak of the fourth surge in coronavirus infections. The OPH reported 1,373 new cases since Thursday along with 39 fatalities.

The number of COVID-positive people in Louisiana hospitals continues to fall. The OPH reported 838 hospitalizations Friday, down 151 since Tuesday.

Despite the improving numbers, most of Louisiana's parishes are rated as being at the highest risk of COVID spread according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention metrics. Those categories are based on a week's worth of average daily new cases per 100,000 people and the percentage of COVID tests returning positive results.

But for the first time since early August, not all parishes are rated as being at highest risk.

West Baton Rouge, Tensas, St. Bernard, Orleans, St. Helena, Cameron and Pointe Coupee are also now classified as high risk, the second-highest of four risk levels.