With the Ohio Department of Health working to correct its erroneous reporting of actual COVID-19 deaths in the state, the number of fatalities significantly jumped.

The ODH reported Friday 2,559 COVID-19 deaths, including about 2,500 that primarily occurred between November and December, but also included October.

Nearly 17 percent of the state’s total 15,136 COVID-19 deaths so far were reported Friday.

That included 179 COVID-19 deaths added Friday in the Mahoning Valley: 93 in Mahoning County, 57 in Trumbull County and 29 in Columbiana County.

That pushed COVID-19 deaths in the Valley over 1,000.

It was 1,043 Friday compared to 864 on Thursday, when underreported deaths started to be added. It was 810 on Wednesday.

Mahoning County had 472 COVID-19 deaths as of Friday while Trumbull had 408 and Columbiana had 163, according to the ODH.

The ODH reported Wednesday that as a result of human error, it underreported as many as 4,000 COVID-19 deaths and would start adding them to the count over the next few days, beginning Thursday.

On Thursday, about 650 deaths that previously were unreported were added with about 2,500 included in Friday’s report. That leaves about 850 more COVID-19 fatalities still to report.

The ODH had one employee manually handle the COVID-19 data by comparing death certificate information to a database used by doctors and health departments.

That person, Karthik Kondapally, an epidemiology investigator, resigned Friday, a day after being put on administrative leave, according to Arundi Venkayya, an ODH spokeswoman.

Also, Sietske de Fijter, chief of the department’s Bureau of Infectious Diseases, was reassigned to a position in the Bureau of Health Improvement and Wellness as a result of the problems.

Because of the underreport, the statewide daily average number of deaths for the past 21 days jumped from 69 on Wednesday to 216 Friday.

COVID-19 CASES

In Ohio, 3,305 COVID-19 cases were newly reported Friday.

It’s below the daily average of 3,846 cases during the past 21 days.

Ohio had 934,742 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 851,653 presumed recovered and 15,136 deaths.

Mahoning County had 18,774 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 16,985 presumed recovered and 472 deaths, according to the ODH.

The state reported Trumbull County had 13,770 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 12,523 presumed recovered and 408 deaths.

Columbiana County had 7,866 cases as of Friday with 7,179 presumed recovered and 163 fatalities, according to the ODH.

VACCINATIONS

More than 10 percent of the state’s population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination.

The ODH reported 1,199,593 people — 10.26 percent of the state’s population — had received at least the first of the two-dose COVID-19 vaccine as of 6 a.m. Friday, including 38,839 in the prior 24 hours.

Each of the three Valley counties had higher percentages than the state’s.

In Mahoning, 12.41 percent (28,379 people) of the population had received at least the first dose while 10.29 percent of Trumbull’s population (20,374 people) and 10.57 percent of Columbiana’s population (10,769 people) received it, according to the ODH.

As for both doses of the vaccine, 3.49 percent of the state’s population (408,103 people) had received them as of 6 a.m. Friday, including 33,669 in the previous 24 hours.

Only Mahoning among the three Valley counties has a higher percentage than the state’s.

In Mahoning, 3.53 percent of the population (8,071 people) had received both doses. In Trumbull, 2.89 percent of the population (5,729 people) and 2.78 percent of Columbiana’s population (2,834 people) had been given both vaccines as of 6 a.m. Friday.

The Mahoning County Public Health District has closed its vaccine pre-registration temporarily because of “an overwhelming demand.”

It won’t reopen until the agency vaccinates those who have preregistered already.

“The vaccination process is dependent on the availability of vaccine provided to Mahoning County and approval of any additional vaccine providers,” according to a district statement. “We are asking for your patience as we work our way through the process. It is our goal to be able to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to those who choose to receive it.”

dskolnick@tribtoday.com