I think covid-19 is very serious and all steps should be taken to social distance wear masks etc
however it can be controlled and probably eleminated by medicine and quarantine etc Taiwan and New Zealand have shown this
Its very hard to get a proper picture of what the covid data really means because its been political from the start in the USA and Europe (as well as China)
Data
You mentioned the CDC influenza death data.
I suggest it is important to compare influenza deaths this year to previous years. If these figures are roughly the same then the data may be ok. However if influenza deaths this year are much lower then it would imply that influenza deaths are now being classified under covid-19 which has been allowed.
These page includes information about the estimated burden of influenza from past seasons, including tables of the estimated influenza disease burden (and 95% credible interval [Cr I]) by age group.
www.cdc.gov
Death reporting changes in April allowed a death to be registered as covid rather than another illness even if there is no covid testing done and a person died of something else such as a heart attack etc. I provide the links on that at the end. These changes have been swept under the carpet.
60+ Age Group Data Factors
The covid % death rate in the 60+ group is clearly much higher than the rest of the population particularly if there is another coexisting condition.
Data on Younger People
The data shows younger people have a lower the % death rate
That does not mean young people wont get ill which may have serious long term health consequences - info on brain and lung damage seems to be coming up now
So everyone should fight covid if only for their own health even if they dont care about the greater good
Data Overview
Looking at a CDC % avg death rate for the whole population is a bit meaningless if you want to understand your own age group death risk.
Added to this the % death rate may be overstated for reasons set out below and not discussed much
Death Rate
Infection fatality rate is deaths in cases tested positive and cases that may or probably involve covid-19 (no testing proof required) divided by total of cases tested positive.
However it seems reasonably clear that the level of infection is much higher - many studies have shown this - the latest info I found easily is below and says covid infection (not death) could be up to 13 x more than is being reported via testing.
This means that in reality the % agerage death rate is probably the same as flu as covid is much more widely spread and not seasonal / continues in the summer so the absolute number of deaths will be higher but skewed to the 60+
"It really means that those people continue to go out in the community and circulate the virus unknowingly," Dr. Neeta Ogden explained.
www.cbsnews.com
The number of deaths in 100s or 1000s from covid-19 is probably not much higher than is being reported otherwise we would be seeing a much higher overall death rate in the country for all deaths compared to previous years which is not happening - yes the death rate is higher but not hugely higher. Ses data below
The plots below show the weekly total deaths from any cause for the first 27 weeks of 2016 to 2020 for the USA and select states. It is meant to be a comparison of the number of total deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic vs previous years. I couldn't find this data in graph form anywhere, so I...
forums.livescience.com
Covid-19 Reporting of Untested Deaths as Covid Deaths info below
The rules for what is classified as a covid death were widened in April to include anyone who had died and the Dr believes could have had covid even if they die of something else and no test has been carried out.
It is often not clear if the data is a possible covid death without testing or a death with a covid test
What this probably means is that people who would have died later of a heart attack died of the heart attack now brought on by covid so it was classified as a covid induced heart attack (without testing for covid etc). If this is correct in future years we may see a fall in heart attack rates because of covid deaths now etc - what does that really mean ?
The link below explains how probable deaths are included. There was a World Health Organization reporting change that brought in probable covid.
Why not split out the data by age group whether there was testing and what other major conditions were present or at least record and provide this data ?
www.worldometers.info
A confirmed case or death is defined by meeting confirmatory laboratory evidence for COVID-19. A probable case or death is defined by i) meeting clinical criteria AND epidemiologic evidence with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID-19; or ii) meeting presumptive laboratory evidence AND either clinical criteria OR epidemiologic evidence; or iii) meeting vital records criteria with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID19"
In public health emergencies, mortality surveillance provides crucial information about population-level disease progression, as well as guides the development of public health interventions and assessment of their impact. Monitoring and analysis of mortality data allow dissemination of critical...
www.cdc.gov
Other Comments
Taiwan and New Zealand have stopped covid other countries have had it under control but need to watch for flare ups. Vietnam with a 97 million population did a very good job of controlling covid until a recent flare up as has Sri Lanka.
Lanhee Chen writes that Taiwan's Covid-19 strategy can be replicated in the United States. Its efforts to identify each case quickly, coupled with contact tracing, social distancing in group contexts and masking where distancing is not possible have been critical in curtailing the advance of the...
www.cnn.com
Vietnam is throwing every weapon in its arsenal at its effort to contain the new spread in Danang
time.com
Vietnam, a country of 97 million people, has not reported a single coronavirus-related death and on Saturday had just 328 confirmed cases, despite its long border with China and the millions of Chinese visitors it receives each year.
www.cnn.com
Vietnam Briefing highlights the travel updates and restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam.
www.vietnam-briefing.com
Sri Lanka's coronavirus tally stands at 2,764 with 11 deaths. Around 600 patients are currently undergoing treatment in hospitals. The country lifted its COVID-19 lockdown in June.
indianexpress.com
New Jersey Data
I found this data which shows what has happened to the death rate over the initial stages of covid-19
New Jersey Death Data 2015 to July 2020
The population of NJ has been stable at around 8.8 to 9 million.
This data shows a big spike in death rates in April to 18,000 deaths per month up from a normal of about 6,000 then a return to 6,000 around June 2020 with July data showing around 5,500 deaths which is about 500 lower than in previous years - there may be data to update etc.
It will be useful to see if there are lower death rates in the months ahead and if population of New Jersey remains stable.