But the table Young links to clearly states that data only covers the period from Feb. 1 to April 25.

Moreover, the National Vital Statistics System website makes clear that it has a significant lag in counting deaths because it relies on tabulating official death certificates it receives.

“It is important to note that it can take several weeks for death records to be submitted to National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), processed, coded, and tabulated,” reads a prominent disclaimer above the data. “Therefore, the data shown on this page may be incomplete, and will likely not include all deaths that occurred during a given time period, especially for the more recent time periods.”

“Data during this period are incomplete because of the lag in time between when the death occurred and when the death certificate is completed, submitted to NCHS and processed for reporting purposes,” reads another footnote.