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An analysis of statistics provided by the Louisiana Department of Health shows that COVID-19 testing is relatively consistent compared to earlier in the month, but a smaller number of those tests are now proving positive for the viral disease.

According to the LDH, there was a total of 54,563 new tests reported in the first 10 days of May. That was an average of 5,456.3 tests per day.

Over the most recent 10 days in the month (May 11-20), there has been a total of 51,098 new tests reported — an average of 5,109.8 tests per day.

However, the average percentage of positive tests in the first 10 days of May was 6.38 percent (there was no report of this statistic on May 2). The high for the period was 12.3 percent positive on May 8, and the low was 2.4 percent positive on May 3.

Over the most recent 10 days, the average percentage of positive tests has been 5.23 percent. The high for the period was 8.5 percent on May 14, and the low was 3.3 percent on May 12.

While the downward trend can be seen as a positive, the difference is even more striking when May is compared to early April.

From April 2-4, the percentage of positive tests reported was 51.3 percent, 44.8 percent and 45.3 percent, respectively. In addition, every single day from March 31 through April 11 had a report of 10 percent positive or higher.

There was a total of 15 days in April where the percentage of positive tests exceeded 10 percent. There has only been two such days in May.

The percentage of positive tests has been less than 8 percent every day since May 14, even as the number of new tests has exceeded 4,500 per day.

For complete statistics, visit the LDH online at ldh.la.gov/coronavirus.