Qwerty,
Harav Baruch Gigi has an excellent Dvar Torah on the subject. He quotes the Ohr Hachaim who explained that Yaakov Lo Meis means that his mission continued because he left over 12 sons who were all Tzaddikim.
I would love to know where this Ohr Hachaim is, because Ohr Hachaim in Vayechi is clear that Yaakov literally didn’t die.
Ohr Hachaim makes this clear several times in his pirushim to the pesukim in Vayechi there.
See here, ד”ה ויכל, ד”ה וישק, ד”ה ויחנטו: https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14020&st=&pgnum=656
Philosopher, Ohr Hachaim is on Sefaria as well, so you can check there.