That is not true. The number of deaths increased because Trump and his fascist supporters downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus. Trump admitted the coronavirus was dangerous.
Wrong.
There are 2 main strategies for any epidemic.
If really lethal, then you do full quarantine, complete shut down, and you end it in a month or less.
If NOT very lethal, then you try to quickly spread it to those least likely to be harmed by it, so you achiever herd immunity through recovery, and you end it in a month or less.
What we did was NOT a valid strategy.
Flatten the curve does not end it at all, and instead actually prevents it from ever ending, by conserving easy hosts.
We learned from the 1918 Spanish flu that you NEVER flatten the curve.
That keeps the epidemic from ever ending.
And that greatly increase the death toll.
Instead of 50k, we have over 1 million deaths now, and still going strong.
That is because we waited for vaccines that do not work at all.