(June 19) — The Louisiana Department of Health reports 787 cases reported to the state since June 18, 2020, bringing total COVID-19 cases to 48,515. Today’s total case count reflects an additional increase of 760 cases that would have been reported on June 18, 2020, and a decrease of 1,666 duplicate and out-of-state cases. LDH reported 7 new COVID-19 deaths on June 18 and today reports an additional 15 deaths, bringing the state’s total to 2,972 COVID-19 deaths.
LDH has developed and implemented a new process for improved de-duplication and parish assignment of data received from labs around the state. In doing so, LDH identified a total of 1,666 existing duplicate cases as well as cases of out-of-state residents. LDH did not update its dashboard on June 18 to ensure it had identified impacted data. These data have been removed in the updated case count today.
Of today’s 787 cases, just 7% are from congregate settings, such as nursing homes. The remaining 93% are a result of community spread. Of yesterday’s 760 cases, 9% are from congregate settings, and 91% are associated with community spread.
“Cases are rising across Louisiana, especially but not solely in the Acadiana, Central and Southwest regions of the state. We are seeing increases in hospitalizations too,” said Dr. Alex Billioux, assistant secretary of the Office of Public Health. “These increases and decreases do not just happen. They are a direct result of our everyday actions. We did the hard work in flattening the curve early on. We stayed home, wore masks and stayed six feet apart. Thank you to everyone who continues to do so – it is the only way we will get through this.”
The rise in cases and hospitalizations comes despite LDH continuously de-duplicating data received from testing labs around the state. Clearing out duplicate data is important to ensure the most accurate reporting of cases.
The Department reports data as it is made available and reported to the state. Every day, LDH receives test results from multiple sources, including providers and labs. While the Department does work to deduplicate the data for daily reporting there is inevitably a tradeoff between precision and frequency of reporting. LDH will continue to conduct quality checks of its data.
Previously, LDH assigned individuals who it could not link to their true parish of residence to the parish where testing was performed. The Department now has a process that allows for more accurate identification of the person’s place of residence and if someone from out-of-state is tested in Louisiana. LDH also reviews the data weekly. In some cases, this may result in a patient being shifted to a different parish or state.