Some of those excess deaths could be driven by other factors such as increased substance abuse. Such as alcohol and opioids.
Alcohol-related deaths could be under reported. Turns out alcohol is an important carcinogen. A small number of people have known this for years but not the general population.
Opioids carry the day. 3,875 deaths from alcohol in 2021. 6,310 died in the same year from accidental poisonings of which most are apparently fentanyl and the even more lethal carfentanil. The latter was originally used in veterinary medicine for large animals.