diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-coverage-report.yaml b/.github/workflows/test-coverage-report.yaml
index 7cdc4b1c5..cebf7828c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-coverage-report.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-coverage-report.yaml
@@ -57,9 +57,11 @@ jobs:
           just test-coverage coverage_target.out short
           # switch back to the head ref
           git checkout ${{ github.head_ref }}
+          ./tools/bin/cov_compare.sh --no-header coverage_target.out coverage.out > table.txt
+          cat table.txt
           {
             echo 'coverage_report<<COVERAGE_REPORT_DELIM'
-            ./tools/bin/cov_compare.sh --no-header coverage_target.out coverage.out
+            cat table.txt
             echo 'COVERAGE_REPORT_DELIM'
           } >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
       - name: Remove previous coverage comments
diff --git a/tools/bin/cov_compare.sh b/tools/bin/cov_compare.sh
index 2aad6d2f6..842f6b355 100755
--- a/tools/bin/cov_compare.sh
+++ b/tools/bin/cov_compare.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,10 @@
 #   ./cov_compare.sh --no-header coverage.out coverage_new.out
 
 NO_HEADER=0
-ARGS=""
+
+# Collect non-flag arguments in an array so they remain separate when
+# resetting positional parameters with `set --`.
+ARGS=()
 
 # Parse optional flags
 for arg in "$@"; do
@@ -17,13 +20,13 @@ for arg in "$@"; do
       NO_HEADER=1
       ;;
     *)
-      ARGS="$ARGS $arg"
+      ARGS+=("$arg")
       ;;
   esac
 done
 
 # Reset positional parameters
-set -- "$ARGS"
+set -- "${ARGS[@]}"
 
 if [ "$#" -ne 2 ]; then
   echo "Usage: $0 [--no-header] coverage1.out coverage2.out" >&2