COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The Ohio Department of Health on Thursday reported more than 100 new COVID-19 deaths, but there is a specific reason for the uptick.

The previous data reported by ODH for the week of Nov. 10 had just eight deaths from the virus. It drew attention as a low statistic that was previously unseen in 2022, save for when the state health agency paused reporting deaths altogether for two weeks.

While the latest death report rose sharply, the state's case count for the week showed a decrease. ODH reported 10,170 new COVID-19 cases for the past week, barely keeping a five-digit case count into mid-November.

However, a sudden swarm of deaths in one week wasn't the explanation behind the increase. Ohio health officials first noticed something might be off with the record-low deaths in the previous week.

"ODH officials double-checked the data, as it appeared low, but it matched the cause-of-death codes we receive from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics," said Ken Gordon, ODH Public Information Officer.

However, Gordon told NBC4 it turned out this same agency had a record-keeping error, not ODH. Because of that, they tacked all of the missing deaths from last week into the new report.

"This week, ODH learned that the NCHS had incorrectly assigned last week’s cause-of-death codes, leading to the low number," Gordon said. "On today’s COVID-19 dashboard, ODH reported 134 deaths, which includes the deaths incorrectly coded last week."

In total, the two-week period accounted for 142 deaths. Splitting that amount between the two weeks makes for a consistent average similar to the 71 deaths reported before the error.

ODH began reporting COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations weekly instead of daily in mid-March after new infections slowed to a low level after the omicron wave. Over the past week, the state averaged around 1,453 new coronavirus cases per day.

Ohio also saw fewer people hospitalized with the virus alongside higher case numbers. The 414 hospitalizations reported by ODH in the past seven days (about 59 per day) make for a sizeable drop from 521 last week, and 538 in the week prior.

A total of 6,493 Ohioans started the COVID-19 vaccination process in the past seven days. Another 5,907 finished vaccination by getting their second dose. Around six in 10 Ohioans are partially or fully vaccinated.