CDC is keeping 2 sets of books on COVID-19 deaths.
One is “reporting” deaths - where the data comes from the states - if it looks like COVID-19, it is.
The other is NCHS reporting COVID-19 deaths as identified from death certificates. CDC reports it as “provisional”.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm
The provisional death count is 47,128 as of 05/08/2020 - with supposedly a 1-3 week lag, though I’ve read elsewhere that it’s an 8-week lag.
All the numbers on covid are manipulated garbage. I think at this point the only way to tell if we even had a problem is to count the dead from all causes and see if the death burden is significantly higher than previous years.
At each of these update pressers, they should give covid numbers as well as “regular” flu numbers side by side.