A machine learning model study suggests that the official US COVID-19 death toll underestimated more than 150,000 unrecognized deaths in the first two years of the pandemic. The study estimated that the total number of deaths reached 995,787. These deaths were likely caused by the pandemic, although they were not officially recorded as COVID-19. Study points to massive undercounting of early deaths in US. Official statistics according to the CDC give lower numbers, such as 923 thousand deaths directly from COVID-19. Excess deaths also include cases affected by health care overload and delayed care. Most of the deaths from COVID-19 involved people over the age of 65, which accounted for 74 percent of cases.