There were a lot of people avoiding medical treatment or diagnosis out of fear of Covid at hospitals and medical clinics, and this led to extensive delays in el

There were a lot of people avoiding medical treatment or diagnosis out of fear of Covid at hospitals and medical clinics, and this led to extensive delays in elective surgeries and delayed diagnosis of medical conditions such as cancer. Thus, fear of Covid resulted in numerous excess deaths. There were other factors too, like increased traffic deaths due to increased reckless driving due to emptier roads due to pandemic lockdowns. It's also disingenuous to say that all deaths of people who had Covid were due to Covid. Many of them who caught Covid while in hospital for serious conditions would have died regardless of Covid.