People are dying at home in NYC at something like 8-10x the pre-pandemic rate, per OCME. If they haven’t been tested for Covid-19 before they die, they aren’t being tested, and they aren’t being included in the official tally of deaths from the disease. https://gothamist.com/news/surge-number-new-yorkers-dying-home-officials-suspect-undercount-covid-19-related-deaths

There’s a natural tendency to look for the statistic that will anchor our understanding of what’s going on, like the tally of hospitalizations or fatalities from the disease, but the truth is all the numbers are suspect.