About 4,000 more people in Ohio have died from COVID-19 than previously thought.
The state's health department said Wednesday that "process issues affecting the reconciliation and reporting" of deaths caused the undercount.
Entering Wednesday, Ohio had recorded 11,856 deaths from COVID-19. The previously unreported deaths will cause a 34% increase in the state death toll.
© MEGAN JELINGERA health care worker puts on protective gear to enter a COVID-19 patient's room at Van Wert County Hospital in Van Wert, Ohio, on Nov. 20, 2020.
A health care worker puts on protective gear to enter a COVID-19 patient's room at Van Wert County Hospital in Van Wert, Ohio, on Nov. 20, 2020. (MEGAN JELINGER/)
The miscounting began in October, with most unreported deaths occurring in November and December, the Ohio Department of Health said in a press release. It added that the error was discovered during routine employee training.
The department said its daily COVID death counts would be updated in the coming week to reflect the days on which people actually died.
More than 470,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins that does not yet include the newly reported 4,000 deaths in Ohio. More than 2.3 million people have died worldwide.