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The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Louisiana has fallen to early July levels, according to statistics released Tuesday by the Louisiana Department of Health.

In Tuesday’s update, the LDH reported that there were 930 COVID-19 patients in Louisiana hospitals. This was a decrease of nine from Monday’s report. It was also the lowest number of hospitalizations since July 6, when the state reported 926 patients in hospitals.

Concerns about a new spike in COVID-19 became evident in July, as the state reached 1,600 hospitalizations on two separate days — July 24 and July 27. However, since late July the number of hospitalized patients has fallen steadily.

The number of new daily cases has also taken a considerable downward trend. In July, the state reported at least 1,000 new cases every single day, and the average number of new cases per daily report was 2,078.

In August so far, the average number of new cases per daily report is 1,326. In addition, seven of the last eight reports have listed fewer than 1,000 new cases.

On Tuesday, the state reported 550 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 144,116 since the start of the pandemic. There were 33 new deaths reported, increasing the state’s total to 4,656. The state has averaged 32.8 deaths reported per day in August, and averaged 23.3 per day in July.

There were 21,581 tests reported Tuesday, with a positivity rate of 2.5 percent. That is the lowest positivity rate since May 26, when the reported rate was 2.4 percent. It also continued a trend of the rate being less than 10 percent every day in August — the last report of a positivity rate in double digits was 11.4 percent in the July 26 update.

The LDH reported Tuesday that there were 141 COVID-19 patients on ventilators, a decrease of 11 from Monday’s report. It was the lowest number of ventilators in use since July 13, when there were 142 patients on ventilators. The peak in August was 240, reported on Aug. 4.

The state is currently under “Phase Two” of re-opening, and that order will continue until at least Friday.

As of Tuesday’s press time, Gov. John Bel Edwards had not announced whether he would move the state to a different phase, or continue the existing order. However, multiple media outlets were reporting that it was likely Edwards would keep Louisiana in Phase Two for at least two more weeks.

The LDH releases new statistics every day at noon, except for Saturdays. They can be found online at ldh.la.gov/coronavirus.