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This article is shared with LebTown by content partner Spotlight PA.

By Sara Simon of Spotlight PA

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and PennLive/Patriot-News. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter.

HARRISBURG โ€” Twice in the last week, Pennsylvaniaโ€™s official COVID-19 death count spiked.

Then, on Thursday, the number plummeted.

Officials from the state Department of Health provided several justifications for the fluctuations, citing technical issues, lengthy investigations, and the addition of โ€œprobableโ€ deaths โ€” those considered to be caused by the coronavirus but without confirmation from a test.

But facing mounting questions about the accuracy of the count, officials on Thursday removed more than 200 probable deaths from the tally, further complicating the stateโ€™s accounting of the pandemic. Health Secretary Rachel Levine said the change was made in an effort to be transparent.

Read More: Lebanon County daily COVID-19 tracker

โ€œWe realize that this category can be confusing, since it does change over time,โ€ Levine said.

โ€œAt times, there are things we need to review, and potentially revisit the way the data is being analyzed,โ€ she said. โ€œAnd this is one of those times.โ€

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The coronavirus surge in Pennsylvania has posed major technical challenges for the Health Department, the clearinghouse for the data critical to make decisions about what policies to implement to keep people safe. In addition to inconsistencies around death counts, the department has struggled to attain complete and accurate demographic data for positive patients, as well as those who have been tested.

At the same time, the stateโ€™s coroners โ€” tasked with investigating suspicious deaths โ€” have grown increasingly frustrated by the Health Departmentโ€™s reluctance to seek their help.

Some have said the departmentโ€™s numbers did not match what coroners were seeing. Those concerns caught the attention of State Sen. Judy Ward (R., Westmoreland), who is advocating for a bill that would give coroners a bigger role in the crisis.

โ€œThereโ€™s a discrepancy in the numbers,โ€ Charles E. Kiessling Jr., president of the Pennsylvania Coroners Association and coroner in Lycoming County, said Thursday. โ€œIโ€™m not saying thereโ€™s something going on…. Iโ€™m not a conspiracy theory guy. But accuracy is important.โ€

Itโ€™s a matter of public safety, Kiessling said.

The confusion began Sunday, when Pennsylvania raised its coronavirus death toll to 1,112 โ€” an increase of 276 overnight. On Tuesday, the department reported another spike, from 1,204 to 1,564 deaths.

In both cases, Levine said the surges reflected deaths that occurred days, even weeks, in the past.

โ€œThese deaths did not happen overnight,โ€ Levine said Sunday.

The jump that day, first blamed on a computer glitch, was explained as a โ€œreconciliationโ€ of multiple reporting systems and the โ€œculmination of that data-validating effort.โ€ Levine also said the โ€œsignificant increaseโ€ included โ€œprobable positiveโ€ COVID-19 deaths, as well as deaths confirmed with a test.

On Tuesday, Levine reported 300 probable deaths in the dayโ€™s count but appeared to indicate the situation was new.

โ€œWe will now be reporting probable deaths related to COVID-19 in addition to confirmed deaths,โ€ she said.

That same day, department spokesperson Nate Wardle told Spotlight PA some probable deaths had been included in the count for at least a week or maybe longer.

Then, on Wednesday, Wardle backtracked, saying that although probable deaths had been added to the reporting systems as of April 13, the day before federal guidance changed, they werenโ€™t included in the stateโ€™s official count until Tuesday.

Wardle added that despite Levineโ€™s public comments, none of the deaths reported Sunday were considered probable, meaning the first surge was due almost entirely to lags in reporting.

The issues with the data go hand in hand with a month-long dispute with the coroners association over how to handle suspected COVID-19 cases.

For weeks, coroners have said their relationships with first responders, funeral directors, and county officials allow them to properly handle investigations where the presence of COVID-19 is unconfirmed โ€” whether the death occurs at home or a care facility.

Despite coronersโ€™ claims that they are well equipped to manage probable cases and legally obligated to be notified of suspected COVID-19 deaths, the Health Department hasnโ€™t budged, insisting the majority of deaths caused by the virus do not need to be reported to a coroner.

โ€œThis is why Iโ€™m so upset,โ€ Kiessling said. โ€œOur job is to investigate.โ€ฆ We do this every day.โ€

If the dispute had been resolved a month ago, with coroners included in the departmentโ€™s COVID-19 investigations, Kiessling said, the public trust in the stateโ€™s numbers would be stronger.

โ€œI know who died. They know who died,โ€ he said. โ€œWe have accurate numbers. We donโ€™t scare everyone to death.โ€

Jeffrey Conner, the coroner in Franklin County, said he was blindsided by the departmentโ€™s news on Tuesday that 10 people had died of COVID-19 in the county. As of Wednesday afternoon, he said, he was aware of only one death.

โ€œCoroners are frustrated,โ€ Conner said. โ€œThere is a lack of leadership from the Department of Health and a lack of definitive answers.โ€

On Thursday, the stateโ€™s revised data reported just one death for the county.

At Wednesdayโ€™s news conference, Spotlight PA asked if there were other situations under investigation by the department that might lead to additional surges in the count.

โ€œNo,โ€ Levine responded. โ€œThose were the two epidemiological reconciliations that we had to do. First, to bring together our different data sources, and then to have the determination and be at the place where we could add the probable deaths.โ€

โ€œThose are the only changes that weโ€™ll be making,โ€ she said.

Because death data are coming from multiple sources, Levine said, the departmentโ€™s numbers may not match those of the coroners. She said the department would work with them to ensure everyone is โ€œon the same page.โ€ That statement echoed one she made April 13, when asked about concerns from Westmoreland Countyโ€™s coroner about a potential miscount of COVID-19 deaths.

“We’ll try to collaborate with the coroners and the hospitals to work out those details,โ€ she said.

As of early Thursday, Kiessling, the association president, said that the department had not yet reached out to his office about the matter. Levine said that afternoon she would hold a call with coroners next week, giving the department time to understand โ€œthe different nuancesโ€ of the issue.

Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PA contributed to this article.

Spotlight PA receives funding from nonprofit institutions and readers like you who are committed to investigative journalism that gets results. Give a gift today at spotlightpa.org/donate.


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