The state Department of Health and Human Services continues to report deaths with or from Covid-19 as “new” deaths even though they actually occurred months and months ago (sometimes even over a year ago). For example, on June 8 I noted that DHHS had reported 98 “new” deaths over the past week, but:

fewer than half (42.8%) of the “new” deaths reported actually occurred in the past three weeks, while roughly the same proportion (41.8%) occurred back in February or earlier (19.4% occurred last year).

As a reminder: it’s June.

This odd reporting continues. In the past week, from June 14–21, here are the months when the reported 75 “new” Covid deaths actually occurred:

  • 29 in June
  • 4 in May
  • 2 in April
  • 5 in March
  • 15 in February
  • 6 in January
  • 2 in December 2020
  • 3 in November 2020
  • 1 in October 2020
  • 7 in September 2020
  • 1 in August 2020

To recap, only 39% of the reported “new” Covid deaths took place in the month of June, when they were reported. If you add May’s count, it is 44%. So fewer than half of the reported “new” deaths actually occurred in the past seven and a half weeks.

When did they actually occur? February (four months ago) and earlier. In fact, DHHS reported more “new” Covid-19 deaths the past week that occurred between August 2020 and February 2021 (35 or 47%) than it did in May–June 2021 (33 or 44%).

Nearly one out of five (19%) “new” deaths reported by DHHS in the past week (which, again, is in mid-June 2021) took place in 2020. Fully half of those were in September 2020.