Louisiana suffers startling one-day spike in coronavirus cases, deaths

Louisiana suffered a startling one-day spike in coronavirus cases and deaths Friday.

The health department reported 710 new cases, the most in days, and 65 more deaths, the second straight day that number has risen to 60 or more. The case count increase was more than double that of Thursday.

Louisiana's death toll now stands at 1,927, while the number of cases rose to 28,711.

The health department also reported a rise in the number of hospitalizations, though slight, reversing a recent downward trend of patients needing to be in the hospital. Total hospitalizations stand at 1,607, a single-day increase of six.

But the number of patients on ventilators continued to decline with one less patient needing ventilation Friday for a total of 230.

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Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.