Officials in Pennsylvania are amending the number of coronavirus deaths in the state by hundreds in the face of questions about how the total number was calculated.
Pennsylvania began including “probable” coronavirus deaths into its overall fatality count earlier this week and, as a result, the number grew by 276 in one day and 360 the next, which was double the number of deaths in the state in two days, according to Fox News.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health then removed 200 deaths from the total after questions arose about the overall accuracy,
“We realize that this category can be confusing, since it does change over time,” Health Secretary Rachel Levine told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “At times, there are things we need to review, and potentially revisit the way the data is being analyzed,” she added. “And this is one of those times.”
Coroners in the state, who are the ones investigating suspicious deaths, have voiced frustration toward the Health Department for reluctance to seek their help, and some have gone on the record saying that the department’s numbers don’t correspond to what they are seeing.
“There’s a discrepancy in the numbers,” Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. said Thursday. “I’m not saying there’s something going on … I’m not a conspiracy theory guy. But accuracy is important. It’s a matter of public safety.”
The Pennsylvania Department of Health responded to the controversy on Twitter.
“Today there was a decrease in probable cases, specifically probable deaths, which impacts total case count. These cases were previously reported as probable, but review determined that more info needed before attributing as #COVID19 related. This doesn’t impact confirmed case count. Probable cases make up <2% of total cases + give us an idea if something is happening in an area that needs investigation. We rely on CONFIRMED case counts to make data driven decisions. As we work to move regions from red to yellow, we use confirmed data to base decisions.”
Probable cases make up <2% of total cases + give us an idea if something is happening in an area that needs investigation.
We rely on CONFIRMED case counts to make data driven decisions. As we work to move regions from red to yellow, we use confirmed data to base decisions.
— PA Department of Health (@PAHealthDept) April 23, 2020
Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of President Trump’s coronavirus task force, said in early April that the government is classifying coronavirus deaths based on whether the person is infected at the time of death regardless of underlying health conditions.
“There are other countries that if you had a preexisting condition, and let’s say the virus caused you to go to the ICU and then have a heart or kidney problem,” she explained. “Some countries are recording that as a heart issue or a kidney issue and not a COVID-19 death.
“The intent is … if someone dies with COVID-19, we are counting that,” she added.
States across the country are dealing with similar inconsistencies as they attempt to determine how many people categorized as “probable” coronavirus victims there actually are.
In Colorado, the coronavirus death count is expected to jump by more than 100 as the state health department starts adding “probable” deaths to the official count.
