July 18, 2023 — In the worst periods of the COVID-19 pandemic, 30% more Americans than normal were dying each day.

But now, that percentage of “excess deaths” has bottomed out and is “no longer historically abnormal,” as The New York Times put it.

The measure has been important over the last several years because counting the true effects of COVID has been challenging. This statistic reveals whether COVID-19 has been underdiagnosed. It also accounts for increased deaths related to COVID-19, like car crashes and missed medical treatments.

TheTimes cites the Human Mortality Database, which says that fewer Americans than normal have died since March, and The Economist, and the CDC, which say t