Considering how drastic the excess deaths of 2020 and 2021 are relative to previous years, I have a decent amount of faith in the number of deaths reported to be caused by covid.
Tons of people are skipping routine screening and exams. Lots of people are straight up avoiding any medical treatment out of fear of catching Covid. (including routine vaccination!). Raw numbers aren’t helpful here.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm