There will never be a true consensus over how many people in the US have died of Covid. The reporting standards aren't strict or prescriptive enough and different organizations define cause of death in different ways.This is one of the downsides of a sprawling privatized and Balkanized heath care system.
'Excess deaths' will be telling. In18 months; the difference between statically expected deaths and absolute deaths will paint a clearer picture of the diseases true impact to society.
There is strong indication that Covid has been hastening the demise of the weak; and that will be reflected in excess deaths.
If less people die than expected in 6 months, because they we're 'cleared out' by covid, those numbers will be captured.
We'll likely see that Covid caused a huge number of 'early deaths', but the expected deaths won't be nearly as high.
Obviously; any 'early death' hastened by the disease is tragic, and any definition of 'early' is subjective, biology & statistics are science.