St. Tammany COVID-19 DASHBOARD
a Digital Product of
Summer 2022
17 data visualizations that show how St. Tammany’s community and economy have been changed by the COVID-19 pandemic
This report covers June through September 2022.
Total Cases
As of August 31, 2022:
- 24.2% test positivity rate
- Average number of daily new cases during August 2022: 106 or 41 positive cases per 100,000 people
- Average number of daily new cases in August 2021: 291
- 81,494 total probable + confirmed cases
- 6,219 re-infections
- 807,389 total tests
- Note: In early 2022, the federal government made at-home test kits available by mail. It’s important to note that only cases reported to LDH via on-site testing at clinics are counted in the numbers on this page. There is an unknown number of positive at-home tests, meaning that case numbers are possibly and likely higher than what is reported here.
- Note: LDH defines a re-infection as “when a person becomes infected with COVID, enough time passes, and later becomes infected again. A person is considered to have been re-infected if they test positive again 90 days or more after their first positive test.
Vaccinations
As of August 31, 2022:
- 167,837 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.
- 150,281 second doses have been administered (this number also includes single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine)
- 65,365 third doses, or booster shots, have been administered.
- St. Tammany has the 10th highest vaccination rate in the state.
- Louisiana ranks 47th out of 50 states in vaccination percentage.
- 61.3% of those 5 and under are fully vaccinated in St. Tammany
Total Mortality
As of August 31, 2022:
- 890 deaths (824 confirmed + 66 probable)
- 1.09% mortality rate
(deaths as a proportion of confirmed cases)
Race
% of Deaths
% of Cases
% of Population
Black
12.04%
17.72%
11.82%
White
86.73%
70.6%
82.95%
Other
1.24%
6.33%
5.22%
Unknown
0%
5.27%
N/A
Unemployment Claims
60
Average weekly number of initial claims for unemployment during August 2022:
175.20
Average weekly number of initial claims for unemployment during August 2021
1,243
Average weekly number of initial claims, March-December 2020:
197
Average weekly number of initial claims, the year of 2021:
Unemployment Rate
- Louisiana Workforce Commission reported that St. Tammany’s unemployment rate was 3.2% in July 2022, lower than:
- the United States rate (3.8%),
- the Louisiana rate (4.5%),
- and the Greater New Orleans rate (5.0%).
- St. Tammany’s unemployment rate did spike a full percentage point from May to June this year; however, the nation, state, and metro area also recorded a similar sudden spike. July’s rate is down from 3.5% in June to 3.2% in St. Tammany.
Source: Louisiana Workforce Commission; Federal Reserve of St. Louis FRED
Employment Situation | United States
- The most recent jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that in August, the national economy added 315,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate increased by .2 percent from July, standing at 3.7%.
- The number of unemployed persons increased by 344,000 to 6.0 million. In July, these measures had returned to their levels in February 2020, prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Among the unemployed, the number of those leaving their jobs permanently increased by 188,000 to 1.4 million in August.
- Employment has risen by 5.8 million over the past 12 months, as the labor market continued to recover from the job losses of the pandemic-induced recession. This growth brings total employment 240,000 higher than its pre-pandemic level in February 2020.
- The report also shows that the most notable job gains occurred in health care, retail trade, manufacturing, and financial activities.
- Additionally, average hourly wages are up 5.2% from the same time last year.
Remote Work | United States
- According to The Washington Post, about one-third of work has been done remotely throughout the nation in 2021 and 2022.
- Reporters are seeing a stabilization in this rate of remote work following 2020’s office shutdowns during which about two-thirds of the nation’s workers were working from home.
- Economic analysts have seen an increase in each industry’s exposure to remote work, with workers in industries such as technology, communications, professional services, and finance and insurance seeing the highest rates of remote work.
- The map to the right shows that more than 40% of St. Tammany’s workforce are remote workers, the largest percentage of remote workers in the state.
Population Shift | United States
- This new normalcy of remote work is causing a shift in population trends. Workers are moving out of large cities and into metro-areas.
- The map to the right shows the working age Americans and their migration patterns out of large cities from 2020 to 2021. We see a decline in the New Orleans area population and an increase in population on the Northshore and St. Tammany.
- Oracle’s Senior Vice President, Yvette Cameron, says, “Many workers in urban areas are continuing to experience the benefit of not being tied to a certain Zip code and moving to more affordable exurbs, whether to be closer to family and support structures or to ‘get more for their money’ and experience a different standard of living on their same paycheck.”
Household Pulse
Based on responses collected in August 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey estimates that:
- About 13.3% of Louisiana adults are living in households where there was either sometimes or often not enough to eat as of the last 7 days of August 2022, showing no change from the same time last year.
- Louisiana has a higher percentage of adults facing food scarcity compared to the nation’s rate of 11.5%.
- Nationally, Louisiana is ranked 40th in food security.
The table to the right shows other metrics that the Household Pulse survey measures by state. Louisiana seems to fall relatively close, if not under, the national standing for most of these metrics.
Metric
Louisiana
United States
Experiencing Childcare Disruptions (Children Under 5)
13.7%
18.7%
Receiving Food Assistance for Children
24.4%
23.2%
Experiencing Long-term Covid Symptoms
32.0%
33.2%
Participating in Household Telehealth
23.0%
22.8%
Participating in Children’s Telehealth
12.5%
15.8%
Unable to Pay Energy Bill
25.9%
23.1%
Adults Likelihood of Eviction / Foreclosure
21.8%
36.7%
Adults in Households Facing Food Scarcity
13.3%
11.5%
Source: United States Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey
Residential Travel
Although the stay-at-home order is no longer in effect, some people still choose to limit their travel in order to stay safe.
The purpose of the community mobility report is to give insight into key questions:
- How have travel and mobility in St. Tammany been impacted by the pandemic?
- Where are people going when they aren’t going to work, going shopping, or doing leisure/entertainment activities?
Definitions:
- Retail & Recreation: Places like restaurants, cafes, shopping centers, theme parks, museums, libraries, and movie theaters
- Grocery & Pharmacy: Places like grocery markets, food warehouses, farmers markets, specialty food shops, drug stores, and pharmacies
- Parks: Places like national parks, public beaches, marinas, dog parks, plazas, and public gardens
- Workplaces: Places of work
- Residential: Places of residence
- Negative percentages indicate reduction in travel
Gas Prices
- The graph to the right shows the average gas prices in the New Orleans metro, state, and nation over an 18-month period, from late February 2021 through the end of August 2022.
- Major travel holidays like Independence Day and Labor Day saw a decrease in gasoline demand, notably lower than gasoline demand during the same times last year. The loss in demand coupled with a decline in gallons pumped show a continual trend toward lower gas prices as summer comes to an end.
- By mid-June, the New Orleans Metro area recorded an all-time high average price per gallon of $4.510, with the lowest average of the year at $3.048 in January.
Gas Prices | Continued
- In early September 2021, the average fuel price in the U.S. was $3.175 per gallon.
- In early September 2022, national prices dropped to an average $3.739 after topping $5 in June, an all-time high.
- Nationally, September’s prices are up 56.4 ¢ from the same time in 2021.
- Gas prices have continued to decline each week this summer after spring saw weekly spikes at the pump.
- As GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis noted, “the national [gas price] average has declined for 12 straight weeks, the longest tally since 2018, and it could soon eclipse that mark if we see two more weeks of decline.”
Gas Prices | Continued
- In August 2022, St. Tammany’s average fuel price was $3.322.
- In the New Orleans Metro, average fuel price was $3.390 in August 2022.
- Also, during August 2022, Louisiana’s average fuel price $3.264.
- August’s prices in the New Orleans Metro are up 46.8¢ from the same time in 2021, when they were $2.920.
Key Takeaways
- According to calculations based upon the CDC’s Community Risk Level Framework, St. Tammany’s COVID-19 risk level is currently high. This level was determined using three metrics:
- Weekly new cases per 100,000 population (more than or equal to 200 designates a high-risk level)
- Weekly new hospitalizations per 100,000 population (more than or equal to 20 designates a high-risk level)
- Percentage of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID patients (more than or equal to 15% designates a high-risk level)
- The pandemic initiated a dramatic shift toward remote and hybrid working environments. After the height of pandemic shutdowns in 2020, there was a significant increase in remote workers; however, the rate of remote workers is seeing stabilization at rates much higher than pre-pandemic levels. In fact, many analysts predict that the rate of remote workers will remain much higher than pre-pandemic levels. More than 40% of St. Tammany’s workforce are remote workers, the largest percentage of remote workers in the state.
- Gas prices have consistently declined for 12 consecutive weeks, the longest consecutive decline in price-per-gallon that fuel prices have seen since 2018. Louisiana is one of the ten states reporting the lowest gas prices in the country; however, St. Tammany Parish is one of the 12 parishes in the state with the highest prices at the pump.