Old Dominion News

There were 55 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Virginia during the week ending August 7, a 31 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 7, there were 1,491 deaths in the state. 20.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.6 percent were from cancer and 7.2 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10.6 percent of deaths were from Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Studies show doctors and medical examiners may underreport Alzheimer's disease and dementia-related conditions as the underlying cause of death on death certificates, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Once infected, older adults with dementia are likely to develop a more severe and dangerous illness. The diseases which make an older adult more vulnerable to COVID-19 are age-associated chronic conditions, according to the Bright Focus Foundation.

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Heart disease	300	291
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	292	327
Cerebrovascular diseases	84	76
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	62	66
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	55	42
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	52	33
Diabetes mellitus	49	35
Alzheimer's disease	38	52
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	21	35
Influenza and pneumonia	17	13

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Alzheimer disease and dementia	158	154