Oklahoma State Department of Health Expected To Update COVID-19 Death Count

The Oklahoma State Department of Health is expected to release a revised version of Oklahoma's COVID-19 death count. The new numbers will correct a discrepancy between the numbers reported by the state and those reported by the CDC. That means the number of deaths will appear, on paper, to increase.

Health leaders say the data reported by the State Health Department is lagging when it comes to Oklahoma's COVID-19 case and death counts.

Right now, the Centers for Disease Control reports more than 10,500 deaths in Oklahoma. The State Health Department reports 9,200, which is more than a 1,300 difference. The state says this gap is due to its death reporting system.

The State Health Department told News on 6 that it looks at each individual death certificate to determine if COVID-19 was the cause of death. If it wasn’t, the death is removed from the system. It says this caused a discrepancy that will be fixed starting Thursday.

OSDH said it wants to improve transparency when it comes to Oklahoma's numbers, so it is releasing results from an audit on Thursday.

FThe State Health Department says it expects the audited number of Oklahoma's numbers to match the CDC’s COVID-19 death count.