Massachusetts to Reduce ‘Significant Overcount’ of COVID-19 Deaths

Health care workers tend to a patient in a January 2021 file photo. Ariana Drehsler/AFP/Getty Images

The Massachusetts Public Health Department announced Thursday that the state would lower its COVID-19 death count by 3,700 due to new measuring criteria being implemented.

The department said in a statement the new death definition is following the guidance (pdf) of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create a standardized approach for states to count COVID-19 deaths.