THE POLITICS of calculating hurricane deaths.

Since 'excess deaths' seems to be the new standard, I'd like to see that standard applied to hurricane Florence. For example, I'd like to see the 'excess death' calculation for Florence from say, a week before landfall to a week after landfall. My personal suspicion is that the deaths that didn't happen (murders, automobile accidents, etc.) because people left/stayed home/etc. exceed those that were directly related to the weather.

And then wait six months and repeat the experiment using exactly the same criteria that Lynn R. Goldman of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University in her study of deaths in Puerto Rico due to hurricane Maria.