State Health Dept. To Increase Oklahoma's COVID-19 Death Toll To Match CDC Reports

The Oklahoma State Health Department says there will be a significant jump in COVID-19 deaths this week.

The Department is expected to increase the state’s COVID-19 death toll by more than one thousand. The new number should be released today and align better with the number the CDC is reporting. The State Health Department says this is not due to an error.

It’s due to the fact the CDC number is a more accurate representation of COVID-19 deaths in the state. The State Health Departments' number has typically lagged behind because each COVID death must go through a review process before it could be counted towards the death toll.

The state said we will see an increase of about 1,053 deaths with the addition of 1,366 cases.

"These are cases and deaths that have occurred since the beginning of the pandemic that we have done our due diligence on to assure that they are accurately reported to the CDC," said Jolianne Stone, the State Epidemiologist. 

The State Epidemiologist says after this most recent data -- she does not believe there will be any more discrepancies between the state's numbers and the CDC's.