In the UK at least, in the first wave your chance of dying of covid was 10x that compared to the 2nd wave (way before any vaccine). No one in the media at least publicly has discussed why so many people died in the first wave. My guess is they killed them with ventilators. Whatever the exact culmination of reasons, something must have gone catastrophically wrong to result in so many deaths the first time around. I guess even a fake pandemic needs real deaths.