Yes that's true, but the 17M figure isn't the interesting / groundbreaking thing. At least it shouldn't be made out to be as if that's the significant thing.

17M just provides the baseline of "normal". Tons more data isn't needed to get that right. 170M wouldn't make a difference. I bet 1.7M wouldn't make a big difference either.

What we really need to know right now is how the Covid deaths behave. All that this offers is the 5,683 sample, but the title inflates it to emphasize the 17M. We need the 5,683 sample to be merged with other samples to reach 56,830, etc. That is the significant thing.