Email address can never be reused?

When trying to update the email address associated with my account I made the mistake of creating a NEW apple ID with that email address. Once I realized my mistake I deleted the new account, waited for the official email saying the account was deleted, and then tried to use the email address. But it told me “The email address isn’t available. Choose a different email address.”. I received the delete email February 23rd of 2020 and I’ve been trying off and on over a year to get this to work.

I tried contacting chat support and finally phone support today and they told me that you can NEVER use an email address that was used for a deleted account. I was told that the only solution is to create another email address, that can’t be the only answer, is it?