Was COVID significant to death in Michigan? One theory is that COVID results in increased death. The counter theory is that COVID only kills the weak and infirmed who were dying anyhow. These two theories oppose each other. Can we find evidence to support either?
Lets look at the total number of deaths in Michigan. If overall death is pretty much the same as previous years, then COVID is probably killing those who were going to die anyhow. But if overall death is greater than usual, then something is a new deadly danger and COVID is the only new thing that was reported on.
Below is a graph I built from data provided to everyone by the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services. From the provided data, I looked at first three columns (Year of Death, Month of Death, Total Number of Deaths) to visualize the historical death counts since 2000.
Until 2020, the overall yearly deaths are pretty close to their previous year's quantity. In 2020, Michigan had about 17.6K more death than in 2019, an increase of about 18%. Were all of these directly caused by COVID? I do not know, but if they were not, then the entire state has a big problem with how well it is prepared for unexpected externalities. If COVID was "no big thing" then the I am not excited to experience something that is "a big thing".
Michigan needs to prepare for these sorts of issues, but I fear it will not.