When Asked Why Staff Never Questioned Why Appleton’s Death Statistics Didn’t Line Up With DHS Reported Numbers, Health Officer Sepers Responds, “The previous reporting methodology likely provided the most accurate [data] during the early stages of the pandemic.”

As posted the other day, the City of Appleton Health Department has indicated that they underreported Covid deaths in Appleton by 68, explaining, “Previously, the department relied on receiving death reports of public health concern as required by State Statute 979.012 (https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/979/012). The direct reporting of medical coroners to the health department has led to an underreporting of COVID-19 deaths in Appleton.”

Those numbers were much more in line with the numbers reported on the Wisconsin DHS website.

I asked Health Officer Sepers, “Is there a reason why the staff members who were pulling the daily numbers from the WEDSS data never questioned why Appleton’s death statistics didn’t line up with the spreadsheet they were pulling other numbers from?” At the time of my post, I had not heard back from him, but he did respond later that day, stating, “This was a methodology change for reporting deaths. Considering that it can take months for death certification to occur, the previous reporting methodology likely provided the most accurate [data] during the early stages of the pandemic. The most important thing to consider is that AHD is committed to accuracy and transparency and will continuously work to that end.”

[It’s still not clear to me why it took so long to notice this discrepancy because the numbers reported on the DHS website and the numbers reported by the Appleton Health Department have not aligned for quite a while.]