Governor expected to discuss underreported COVID-19 deaths

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was expected to provide more details Thursday about revelations that the state underreported as many as 4,000 COVID-19 deaths, or more than a third of reported deaths to date.

The Ohio Department of Health says those deaths will now be added to the state’s tally of deaths from the coronavirus during the coming week.

Health officials say “process issues affecting the reconciliation and reporting of these deaths” began in October, with most occurring in November and December. The department identified the problem during a routine employee training, officials said.

Adding the deaths will inflate daily reported death counts for two or three days, but the appropriate date of deaths will be reflected on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, the health department said. DeWine scheduled an afternoon briefing to discuss coronavirus updates.

The announcement of the underreported deaths came Wednesday night and followed an appearance by state Health Director Stephanie McCloud before the House Finance Committee during which McCloud said nothing of the discrepancy.

As of Wednesday, the state was reporting a total of 11,856 confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths, including 10,522 confirmed deaths and 1,334 considered probable under the expanded death definition by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Farnoush Amiri is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.