was not teased out in the data that they (and even the CDC) released during this process. Part of this is because different states and regions were using different definitions - to help achieve political goals.
There were certainly many who died from COVID, but not as many as they claim, not even remotely worth a shut down (which didn't work anyways), and not nearly as many that died from the shut down itself - suicides, missed medical appointments, missed screening tests, delayed treatments and surgery, loss of income to afford necessities such as meds, etc..etc..
I am sure that the faux doctor wannabes on this board will come out of the woodwork on this because they are poltically driven. There are plenty of bad data to quote that was released without even being teased out. Real experts agree that the number of actual COVID deaths will have to be an estimate thanks to the data collection flaws. Further, it never helps when the govt incentivizes hospitals and caregivers with increased reimbursement to include COVID in the diagnosis. That also played a large role in the problem.
In the case of Gretchen Whitmer, she assembled a hand picked team to comb through charts that treating doctors had completed on their patients, and they reassigned diagnoses - initially to increase the number of COVID cases when it helped justify the lockdown, and later to decrease the number hwen she began to look bad for having the nation's highest COVID rates (thanks to that recounting) while she was vacationing maskless in Florida.