Did you read the paper? It effectively has three US data points it's using: deaths in 2000, 2010, and 2017. And it's comparing to European countries in the sa

Did you read the paper? It effectively has three US data points it's using: deaths in 2000, 2010, and 2017. And it's comparing to European countries in the same time to calculate excess deaths. But they're defining excess deaths as those due to living in the US vs. Europe. Not excess deaths in 2017 vs. 2000 or 2010. This is pointing to structural issues in the US (like healthcare, violence, opioid issues, etc.) causing a long-term mortality rate difference between the US and Europe (it's significantly worse in 2010 as well as 2017). Not that there was a peak in 2017.