Got it. I'm a little slow.

Yes that is a very good question. Why are rates of death per thousand lower in 2020 (when we had lots of covid) than in 2019 when there was little to none.

The 2020 numbers could be revised as more death information continues to come in but I would think those additional numbers should be minimal at this point.

So if you take that information at face value the case can be made the deaths were no worse in 2020 big covid year than in the previous year. Yet dpilot's numbers come up showing 450,000 excess deaths compared to trend indicating covid caused an additional .0013 of the US population to die that otherwise should not have.

So depending on where a person gets the official statistics from, the case can be made either for or against covid causing an increased death rate over last year.

Have I summarized that correctly?