In 2021 there were no lightning deaths in the US as of June [0]. This stat compares the lifetime odds of death from lightning [1] to several months of covid data.
Yes the author of this article seems not to know statistics very well and is comparing apples to oranges, and why did wapo let it get published with such glaring wrong logic. Being an opinion piece doesn’t mean throw out all standards.
2021 has had an uncommonly low number of deaths. The same link says the 10 year average is 25 fatalities per year, and on average about 7 by the end of July.