As many as 4,000 COVID-19 deaths may have been under reported by the Ohio Department of Health over the last several months, the state announced late Wednesday.
The deaths will begin to be added to the daily death counts next week, which will lead to high death counts for a two to three-day period, ODH said.
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“Process issues affecting the reconciliation and reporting of these deaths began in October,” a statement from ODH said. “The issue related to the unreconciled COVID-19 deaths was identified by the Ohio Department of Health during a routine employee training.”
The deaths that may have been under reported began in October, with the largest number of them coming in November and December, when Ohio saw a large spike in cases and hospitalizations due to the virus.
The department is working with the Ohio Auditor’s Office to conduct an audit of the state’s COVID-19 data, something that has been happening since September.
The auditor’s office has not yet announced any of its finding during the audit period.
“After this increase, normal processes will resume, with increased quality assurance related to the death reconciliation process,” ODH said.