I feel like this ignores that the death rate is the result of three things interacting: the deadliness of the disease, the density of the population, and the pr

I feel like this ignores that the death rate is the result of three things interacting: the deadliness of the disease, the density of the population, and the preventative measures taken. 1. The places that are the least hit are the least urbanized. I would guess that the regular flu also hits them less. 2. These number are including a massive shutdown, and preventative measures, that don't usually occur during the flu season. 3. I'm not sure your numbers are accurate. For example, I just spot checked texas, which has 15,421 deaths: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/texas-coronavirus-cases.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/texas-coronaviru... That is a rate of 1 in 1880, which would put them in the "WAY worse than the flue" category, not "That was definitely a flu".