“…Additionally, it is unaffected by evolving disease definitions, asymptomatic cases, testing-uptake variability, and variable cause-of-death reporting, including health conditions exacerbated by SARS-CoV-2 infection, and even politics [ [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] ]. All-cause mortality also encompasses deaths among persons who never contracted SARS-CoV-2, including the potential downstream fatal effects of delayed or foregone medical care resulting from early pandemic mitigation measures [ [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] ], and pandemic-associated stress and exacerbated psychiatric issues [ [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] ].…”