For the numbers geeks out there – this imbedded statistical applet can be of interest- although it is a bit clunky to use. This is generally always the case with useful but complex data sets.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm#dashboard There are weird and unexpected trends here. Counterintuitive really. Some of the numbers do not follow the official narrative. For instance, if you look at total deaths by age breakdown, you see (as expected) that 6 months ago - older Americans were hit hard. Very hear. But even in average years older citizens are hid hardest by the winter flu season. We tend to think that this scenario has not changed in the last two months but surprise, surprise. Curious that in the last month, just as the infection rate has skyrocketed, the total death rate for older citizens has proportionately dropped down to the previous 5 year average. In fact for those in the 65-75 category – they are actually living longer that in a normal year. That is remarkable and it could well change as soon as more data is collected and the trailing edge numbers come in. To be clear, younger victims are stil far less likely to die this year compared to the past but older victims are no more likely to die (from any cause) than in previous “normal” (pre-pandemic) years and in fact may be surviving longer. Of course, this could be because a disproportionate percentage of older Americans have already died in the early months of the pandemic.