About 200 deaths from COVID-19 due to Iowa changing death reporting method

Des Moines, Iowa — Monday night, the Iowa Public Health Service (IDPH) announced that the state would report COVID-19 deaths differently in order to provide reliable data to Iowa now and in the future. ..

The new death report is based on a case study and does not include employment data. The state will endeavor to collect this data for future reporting, but will no longer be reported in real time on its website. This change also affects how existing status is reported.

At a press conference on Monday night, IDPH’s interim director, Kelly Garcia, said changes were being made to provide more reliable mortality data to the public.

“This methodology ensures that the reported COVID-19 deaths are consistent with the official states. Vital statistics It will be reported when it is finally announced next year and will provide greater consistency among the deaths reported by federal, state and county government agencies, “Garcia explained.

For other diseases, IDPH relies on the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) ICD-10 National Coding for Death Records. When the pandemic began, there was no new coronavirus code as the cause of death.

To address the lack of code, IDPH relied on a combination of confirmed positive tests and case information that determined that the person had died. IDPH acknowledges that this approach presents challenges, but said it was “the best solution available when the pandemic began.”

Since then, Iowa has begun reporting antigen test results, especially in long-term care facilities. IDPH has determined the need to coordinate mortality reports through communication with county and local public health authorities.

Currently, there is also an ICD-10 code for reporting deaths from COVID-19, making it easy not only to report deaths, but also to compare them with other causes of death in the state.The· CDC Announces New Code Last Thursday.

In the new methodology, death from coronavirus does not require a positive PCR or antigen test. The state follows federal standards of trusting healthcare providers’ diagnoses, regardless of positive test results.

Deaths are counted as COVID-19 deaths if the NCHS code is listed as the underlying cause of death or cause of death.

For more information on the difference between the underlying cause of death and the cause of death, see the related article below.

Relation: Why does it take so long to report the death of COVID-19 in Iowa?

As Garcia said, this new methodology includes COVID-19 deaths reported in state vital statistics reports and deaths reported by federal, state, and county government agencies. Make sure they match.

“I absolutely believe this is in the best interests of the people, as states and all states are the way we record deaths,” Garcia later explained.

Being able to go back and examine the data to identify the main causes of death during this period will help IDPH vital statistics experts.

“This change allows the public health authorities and others of researchers, who usually do retrospective reviews of death, to compare it to other types of death, which was not possible before this change.” Garcia said.

This change in report will increase the death toll from COVID-19 in Iowa by an additional 177. The website began reflecting this change on Monday night, detailing total deaths, root cause deaths, and factor deaths.

As of Monday night, the new death toll is 2,898.

According to Garcia, deaths are not reported in real time, but once daily at 7 am. Deaths are recorded as usual on the day the individual died.

When asked if she thinks the new death toll is accurate, Garcia said, “It’s accurate.”

“There are no pauses around the numbers,” Garcia said.

IDPH’s Sarah Ekstrand emailed Local 5 that there are no national standards for reporting deaths. She said she believes other states will begin to move to this reporting method. This is because it is the most accurate way to record deaths.