My reading of this CDC report is that 6% of the death total is attributable to ONLY Covid-19. The other cases had comorbidities which contributed to the death. While it is true that if Covid-19 was present, then people were jumping to the conclusion that Covid-19 was the underlying cause of death, which inflates the Covid-19 death rate. There really is some gray area here.
From this report, it is unwarranted to say that the CDC is changing their story with these graphs. They are simply trying to explain the effects of comorbidity.
I tend to agree with you however if the numbers were framed this way all along I also tend to believe the entire narrative...and reaction would have been different.
And sure for many...covid was probably a contributing factor but the truth is I don’t even know that for certain. There have been too many lies for me to make sense of any of it.