Acadiana coronavirus infections spread as fast as ever in the first week of 2021, with the percentages of tests resulting in new cases at all-time highs. But the states daily reports over the subsequent week were more encouraging, with new cases increasing at similar rates as new tests.<\/p>\n
Hospitalizations appear to have stabilized for now, with the first week-over-week declines reported this week since Dec. 28.<\/p>\n
More than 13% of Region 4 tests resulted in new cases over seven-day periods ending on Jan. 4, Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, exceeding the previous high mark by a full percentage point. That is according to the weekly date of test report, which allocates test results to the dates that tests were taken. The weekly reports are published on a seven-day lag, so it will not be known until Jan. 20 if the case-to-test ratio continued to rise.<\/p>\n
But the daily reports which publish test results as the state receives them from labs point to a possible plateau in the second week of January, albeit a very high one. Newly reported cases declined 10% over the week ending Jan. 13, while newly reported tests increased by 10%.<\/p>\n
That is the widest gap between new test growth and new case growth in nearly a month. It follows several days of comparable changes in rolling weekly case and test counts. In the previous week, new cases were growing at triple and quadruple the rates of new tests.<\/p>\n
Still, the weekly Acadiana caseload in the seven-parish region remains above 2,000, a watermark that is comparable with other critical outbreak points in the summer and late fall. While COVID-19 hospitalizations have stalled in the low 200s for several days, that too is a historically high mark.<\/p>\n
By way of comparison, on Oct. 13 three months ago, during a slower period of the pandemic in Acadiana there were 286 new cases reported over seven days, and local hospitals counted 50 COVID-19 inpatients.<\/p>\n
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Acadiana coronavirus spread slows a bit after record-breaking start to year - The Advocate<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acadiana coronavirus infections spread as fast as ever in the first week of 2021, with the percentages of tests resulting in new cases at all-time highs. But the states daily reports over the subsequent week were more encouraging, with new cases increasing at similar rates as new tests Continue reading