St. Mary, surrounding parishes rated as 'highest risk' for COVID

St. Mary Parish residents accounted for another 117 positive COVID-19 tests between midday Tuesday and midday Wednesday, according to the Louisiana Office of Public Health. The parish, and virtually all of south Louisiana east of Cameron and Jeff Davis parishes, is now rated at "highest risk" for COVID by the OPH.

The midday Wednesday report showed the pandemic total of St. Mary COVID cases is now 9,076, up from 8,959 since Tuesday. No additional deaths were reported for the parish. The toll remains at 230.

Statewide, 9,378 new cases were reported Wednesday along with five deaths. The number of people hospitalized for COVID treatment rose by 145 in a day to 659. On Dec. 17, 207 people were hospitalized.

The one-day number of new infections is the highest for Louisiana since the pandemic began.

The OPH rates in the risk in each parish according to the percentage of COVID tests returning positive results and an average of daily new COVID cases.