Gee, I was expecting a link to the NYT article to see what it really says. Instead, the link goes to some questionable Russian website that claims that the NYT said something but does not contain information that would help one find the article in question.
Around 2.8 to 2.9 million people died per year prior to Covid. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the number of deaths jumped by 18%, to 3,383,729. Out of those extra 528,891 deaths, 350,831 were caused by Covid. In 2021, the second year of the pandemic, total deaths jumped by 21% or 603,859 over 2019 numbers, with 415,399 of those being Covid deaths. The reason there are more excess deaths than accounted for by Covid alone is that people were not able to get medical care for their heart disease, accidents, strokes, etc., because medical resources were diverted to caring for Covid patients.
If those huge jumps in the number of people who died weren’t caused by Covid, then what in the world was killing off so many extra people in 2020 and 2021? Did heart disease, strokes, accidents, etc., suddenly become especially deadly in 2020 and 2021?
So by your numbers about 750,000 died of COVID in 2020 and 2021.
This is much less than the 2 million-ish reported.
I bet when you look at the actual deaths, it is weighted heavily towards the elderly and those with chronic diseases.
We were shut down, our economy ruined, the education of our children irreparably harmed, for political gain...nothing more.