I will guess that traditional Chinese culture likely reveres the elderly more than people in North America do.

 

The idea that it is mostly old folks dying, and they'd be "dying soon anyway", is probably more common in North America, where there is not all that much respect for old people (and fewer people living in generation-extended households), with more younger people looking forward to inheriting.  

 

Compare the US death by Covid numbers to the minimal Chinese ones.

Pro-rate the US mortality rate to China's population being over 4 times greater, and the number of elderly deaths that could be expected in China would be huge.