So, if COVID-19 spreads widely, it is reasonable that it could infect many of these people, accelerating their deaths. There are more people with these conditions who would presumably die in coming years. COVID-19 could accelerate their deaths also. If these people die prematurely from COVID-19, was it coronavirus that killed them? Or was it heart disease, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, lung disease, or one of the other pathologies listed above?
If COVID-19 spreads widely, ultimately infecting 40% to 70% of the population, it seems very reasonable to me that it could kill more than a million people. Some of those will be otherwise healthy people, but most are likely to be people who are old, infirm, or have other chronic diseases that might have resulted in their premature death without COVID-19. So, we could see very big numbers from COVID-19, but they might just represent acceleration of pathologies that already exist.
Note also in the graphic above that 55,672 people died last year from influenza and pneumonia. This dwarfs deaths so far from COVID-19. I know a couple of people who died from the flu. Get your flu shots!