The numbers of people hospitalized and on ventilators with COVID-19 in Louisiana continue to drop, according to Thursday's report from the Louisiana Department of Health.
For the third day in a row, hospitalizations are down — this time by 29. There are 220 fewer people in hospitals with COVID-19 today than there were four days ago. The number of people on ventilators dropped by 29 today and has dropped in 10 of the last 12 days, for an overall decrease of 175.
In all, there are 1,914 people hospitalized and 396 people on ventilators with COVID in Louisiana.
Another 53 people were reported dead in the last 24 hours, the LDH reports. In total, 1,156 people have died of COVID-19 in the state.
There have been 581 new cases reported since yesterday, for a total of 22,532.
The daily increases have been somewhat level over the past five days:
April 12: 581
April 13: 421
April 14: 502
April 15: 433
April 16: 581
That's an average 2.3 percent increase each day.
Officials have lately said Louisiana is showing signs of flattening its curve, though in a press conference earlier in the day, Gov. John Bel Edwards offered this reminder: "We are going to continue to see new cases throughout the year."
Commerical and state labs have completed a combined 126,586 tests.
There are 5,847 known cases of COVID-19 in Orleans Parish, 5,346 known cases in Jefferson Parish and 1,389 known cases in East Baton Rouge Parish.
In Orleans Parish, 302 people have died. In Jefferson Parish, 261 have died, and in East Baton Rouge Parish, 66 have died.
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