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The number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals has dropped below 1,000 for the first time since March 28, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Louisiana Department of Health.

The LDH said at noon Wednesday that the state had 931 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and 110 of those patients required ventilators. On Tuesday, the state reported 1,004 hospitalizations and 112 ventilators in use.

Wednesday’s report is the first time since March 28 that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations has been below 1,000. On March 28, there were 927 COVID-19 patients reported in Louisiana’s hospitals.

The state said Wednesday that there had been 35,316 cases of COVID-19 reported, with 2,485 deaths. On Tuesday, there had been 35,038 cases and 2,458 deaths reported.

The increase between Tuesday’s statewide update and Wednesday’s update was an additional 278 cases and an additional 27 deaths.

Washington Parish had reported 376 cases and 36 deaths, according to the Wednesday update. On Tuesday, the parish had reported 375 cases and 34 deaths.

There had been 1,572 cases in St. Tammany Parish, with 151 deaths (an additional 13 cases and two additional deaths compared to Tuesday), and 752 cases in Tangipahoa Parish, with 30 deaths (an additional 10 cases and no additional deaths compared to Tuesday).

Washington Parish had reported 2,868 COVID-19 tests, as of Wednesday’s update.

In Wednesday’s update, the LDH said that 12,795 tests had been reported from the state laboratory, and an additional 273,175 tests had been reported from commercial laboratories — a total of 285,970 tests. The state had reported a total of 278,073 tests in Tuesday’s update — a difference of 7,897 tests.

The LDH reported Wednesday that there are 26,249 presumed recovered cases of COVID-19, as of its May 16 update.

A person is presumed to have recovered if:

• It has been more than 14 days, since he/she tested positive and he/she is not currently in the hospital or deceased (when hospital status is known), or
• It has been more than 21 days, since he/she tested positive and he/she is not deceased (when hospital status is unknown).

The previous report was released on May 10, with 22,608 presumed recovered cases — a difference of 3,641 additional recoveries.

The LDH typically releases updated statistics each day at approximately noon. For complete statistics, visit the LDH online at ldh.la.gov/coronavirus.