Same problem I discovered in Oregon, leading to a change in how the state reports deaths:
The provisional death count is based on death certificates. As cases increased at the end of 2020, OSDH’s epidemiologists began encountering larger numbers of incomplete records require in-depth investigation leading to a large difference between OSDH’s death count and the CDC’s, the health department said.
Source: OSDH Changes How It Reports COVID-19 Deaths; 747 New Virus Cases Reported
Ohio recently dumped 4,000 Oct-Dec death counts – In February.
Iowa got behind too, but at least their PR explains why the death reports are always lagging.
Media morons have spent months excitedly reporting “54 deaths today!!!!!!!!!!!!” even though, in my state, 75% of them were weeks to months earlier.
Basically, daily body counts have always been wrong but the error was small – until deaths began to increase. Then, the states got further and further behind in reporting deaths, leading up to high death “reports” in January and February as they caught up.
The public saw this and assumed deaths were increasing – when deaths had actually peaked 4-6 weeks earlier.
Epidemiology’s inability to communicate honestly and effectively is embarrassing. The field has the accuracy of astrology with the honest of alchemy.