CDC recorded death totals dropping

CDC:

Week ending date in which the death occurred	COVID-19 Deaths (U07.1)1	Deaths from All Causes	Percent of Expected Deaths2	Pneumonia Deaths (J12.0–J18.9)3	Deaths with Pneumonia and COVID-19 (J12.0–J18.9 and U07.1)3	Influenza Deaths (J09–J11)4	Population5
Total Deaths	17,229	615,428	90	49,013	7,676	5,411	327,167,434
2/1/2020	0	56,645	96	3,648	0	454	327,167,434
2/8/2020	0	57,225	96	3,640	0	488	327,167,434
2/15/2020	0	56,416	96	3,659	0	509	327,167,434
2/22/2020	0	56,120	97	3,518	0	525	327,167,434
2/29/2020	5	55,678	97	3,544	3	598	327,167,434
3/7/2020	20	55,185	95	3,652	11	575	327,167,434
3/14/2020	44	53,142	93	3,607	22	566	327,167,434
3/21/2020	464	52,813	93	4,041	212	482	327,167,434
3/28/2020	2,441	55,027	98	5,339	1,133	381	327,167,434
4/4/2020	6,500	57,631	103	7,508	3,160	389	327,167,434
4/11/2020	6,524	46,227	84	5,650	2,701	364	327,167,434
4/18/2020	1,231	13,319	25	1,207	434	80	327,167,434

NOTE: Number of deaths reported in this table are the total number of deaths received and coded as of the date of analysis and do not represent all deaths that occurred in that period.

*Data during this period are incomplete because of the lag in time between when the death occurred and when the death certificate is completed, submitted to NCHS and processed for reporting purposes. This delay can range from 1 week to 8 weeks or more, depending on the jurisdiction, age, and cause of death.

1Deaths with confirmed or presumed COVID-19, coded to ICD–10 code U07.1

2Percent of expected deaths is the number of deaths for all causes for this week in 2020 compared to the average number across the same week in 2017–2019. Previous analyses of 2015–2016 provisional data completeness have found that completeness is lower in the first few weeks following the date of death (8).

3Pneumonia death counts exclude pneumonia deaths involving influenza.

4Influenza death counts include deaths with pneumonia or COVID-19 also listed as a cause of death.

5Population is based on 2018 postcensal estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau (9)

The chart is on a page with a discussion of the results.  It gives a weekly total and the last two weeks show a significant drop in deaths for all causes.   Another chart at the link also shows death by age groups and not surprisingly the elder people dominate that chart.

It looks like it would make sense to protect the most vulnerable groups and let the rest of the world get on with their lives.  While some on the left have accused those who want to get back to work of being suicidal, those making that statement appear to be ignorant of the facts concerning who is dying.  When you consider the mortality rate for this virus, it does not appear to be significantly greater than other flues.  What makes it difficult to contain is that it has so many asymptomatic carriers.  What that should tell us is that testing needs to be concentrated on those who deal with the most vulnerable such as people with preexisting conditions and people in nursing homes.