The official numbers you have on hand are estimated using a ratio of deaths-to-hospitalizations [1] These official numbers are arrived at by _multiplying_ the n

The official numbers you have on hand are estimated using a ratio of deaths-to-hospitalizations [1] These official numbers are arrived at by _multiplying_ the number of flu death counts reported by various coefficients produced through complicated algorithms. The coronavirus numbers are _not_ the result of multiplying the a death count, they are the death count that is muliplied to get the flu numbers. You can find the observed flu death count for the last several years at https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2017-2018.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2017-2018.htm, but you have to dig a little on the page for each year - the pages are for giving "Estimated Influenza Illnesses" and describing that years model, and in the citations you can find the count of observed. I'll come back and reply if I can make time to put together a spreadsheet with the observed counts per year with links. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/how-cdc-estimates.htm#References https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/how-cdc-estimates.htm#R... [2] https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/comparing-covid-19-deaths-to-flu-deaths-is-like-comparing-apples-to-oranges/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/comparing-... [3] https://aspe.hhs.gov/cdc-%E2%80%94-influenza-deaths-request-correction-rfc https://aspe.hhs.gov/cdc-%E2%80%94-influenza-deaths-request-...