At population scales, anomalous excess mortality can be detected and shown actuarially, based on expected mortality rates.
Which raises another key point: in an epidemic, it's the population at large which is affected and diseased. Individual assessments (or treatment) are often of limited use or applicability.
I'm not sure if we will be able to separate the confounding factors such as economic impact at the population level. Do you have an idea how this can be done?
I have seen a few studies using this method to look at excess mortality during the great recession [1],[2], but there wasn't a pandemic at the same time.
Deaths directly from an infectious agent, or due to society-wide institutional impacts ... are still deaths, and would have, at least in a statistical sense, have been avoided without the epidemic. Specific mechanism differs, but the ultimate avoidance measure is the same: avoid pandemic situations, as a society.
Which raises another key point: in an epidemic, it's the population at large which is affected and diseased. Individual assessments (or treatment) are often of limited use or applicability.