Pennsylvania’s coronavirus death toll dropped by 201 Thursday, after the state’s department of health said probable deaths previously included in the count had been deducted.

The state is reporting 1,394 confirmed deaths in Pennsylvania.

The number of deaths confirmed by a positive virus test actually rose overnight by 69. But Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania health secretary, said Thursday that 270 probable deaths that had been added to the death toll in recent days have been removed after further investigation.

“This verification process is very intensive and under normal circumstances it can take months to complete,” she said. “We continue to refine the data that we are collecting to provide everyone this information in as near time as we possibly can. This is really difficult with thousands of reports each day.”

State health officials had recently changed the way they count COVID-19 deaths - now including probable deaths along with confirmed deaths - which resulted in a doubling of the state’s death toll in just four days. A probable death is one in which a coroner or medical examiner listed COVID-19 as the cause or contributing cause, but the deceased was not tested for the virus.

Officials have said they are trying to reconcile data provided by hospitals, health care systems, county and municipal health departments and long-term care living facilities with the department’s own records. Some county coroners have accused the state Department of Health of botching the numbers.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health added 1,369 new cases of coronavirus to the state’s running total Thursday, bringing its statewide total to 37,053 (36,665 confirmed, 388 probable).

Carbon counted with neighbors

Compared to nearby counties, Carbon is still reporting a relatively low number of coronavirus cases.

With just over 150 cases as of Thursday, Carbon’s spread shrinks in comparison to that of Lehigh County, where cases have surpassed 2,000. Another one of its neighbors, Monroe, has more than 1,000 while Schuylkill tracks nearly 300.

But that doesn’t mean Carbon will get back to normal any sooner when Pennsylvania begins its limited reopening early next month. Unveiled by Gov. Tom Wolf earlier this week, the three-tiered plan to gradually restore operations in the state consists of three phases: red, yellow and green.

To move from the red stage, which includes a stay-at-home order currently covering all 67 of the state’s counties, to the yellow, an entire region would need to be assessed, Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania health secretary, said in her press briefing Thursday.

The number of new cases in any given region over a two-week period, as well as the area’s testing ability, hospital capacity and contact tracing measures, would all be taken into account before any mitigation guidelines, like travel and work limitations, could be lifted.

If a single county meets criteria to reopen but cases surge in the regions surrounding it, “we would not open that region,” Levine said.

“It’s not going to be isolated county by county,” she said.

The department hasn’t yet detailed how counties will be grouped into regions.

Locally, COVID-19 cases in Lehighton total 18; towns with the highest number of cases in Carbon County include Weatherly (36) and Albrightsville (41). A total of 14 have tested positive for the virus in Palmerton, and 10 in Jim Thorpe.

On Thursday, Carbon County Commissioners Chris Lukasevich and Rocky Ahner addressed Wolf’s plan.

“We are surrounded by very high incidence rates where we are relatively low,” Lukasevich said. “We are going to have a notable challenge here if we continue to go the progression that we have because ... the relative minimal impact compared to others. So we’re going to have some significant challenges even when the data comes out on how we will measure any type of opening.”

Ahner said that there are still many guidelines that need to be set by the state with reopening before it could begin to happen.

The Associated Press and Amy Miller contributed to this report.