UPDATED: Coroner says St. Mary's COVID death toll is at 28 for August

On Friday, St. Mary Parish Coroner Dr. Eric Melancon said 28 parish residents have died from COVID-19 in August, four more than appeared in the daily report from the Louisiana Office of Public Health.

The fatality numbers from Melancon, who has often reported local COVID fatalities before they made their way into the state database, mean 175 St Mary people have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Thirty-two St. Mary people died from COVID-related causes in 2021's first seven months.

"Please beg people to put their politics, computer chips, FDA approvals aside and protect themselves," Melancon said in a text message.

One of the people who died received a first vaccine dose the day before showing symptoms, Melancon said. Another person who died was fully vaccinated but had a medical history including kidney failure, diabetes and hypertension.

"This Delta variant is NO JOKE and people need to quit making excuses or risk DEATH!" Melancon wrote.

St. Mary's vaccination rate is now listed by OPH at 32.4%, up about 3 points this month.

The OPH reported 80 new COVID cases in St. Mary in the 24 hours ending at midday Friday.

The 80 cases raise St. Mary's pandemic total to 7,498.

Statewide, COVID hospitalizations were down 14 since Thursday and now total 2,999.

The OPH reported 5,922 new Louisiana cases and 67 deaths Friday.

At a press conference Friday, Gov. John Bel Edwards warned again about the growing incidence of COVID infections among young people.

About 28% of new COVID infections are now among people under 17, he said. Between Aug. 9 and Aug. 15, when many Louisiana schools were opening, 2,444 new COVID cases were reported among students and staff members, Edwards said.

The governor defended his public health proclamation's mask mandate for students and employees at schools after anti-mask protests broke up a legislative hearing and a Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting this week.

"Simply put, we cannot keep schools open and our kids safe without masks," Edwards said.

Masks not only protect children, but they're also important in light of evidence indicating infected youngsters often infect others, he said.

"It would be an absolute recipe for disaster to take kids from all across Louisiana and put them together, indoors, for approximately seven hours a day, unmasked, in classrooms, and then send them home at the end of the day," Edwards said.

The positivity rate on COVID tests among children under 4 is 17.5%, said Public Health Officer Dr. Joseph Kanter at the press conference. For young people 5-17, the rate is 28%.

The number of patients in hospitals for COVID treatment was a 2,999 Friday, down for the second straight day after 16 consecutive record-breaking days.

"It's nice to see that dip just a little bit," Kanter said. "It's still a very high number. It's causing tremendous problems for hospitals."

The state positivity rate was down slightly Friday to 15.5% from 16.1%, and the incidence rate -- the average daily new case count for a week adjusted for the size of of the population is down to 109 per 100,000 people. Both statistics remain at levels the Centers for Disease Controls characterize as indicating the "highest risk" of COVID infection.