Old Dominion News

There were 53 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Virginia during the week ending October 9, a 22.1 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 9, there were 1,567 deaths in the state. 17.6 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.3 percent were from cancer and 28.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.4 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 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Heart disease	276	308
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	256	294
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	229	321
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	214	298
Cerebrovascular diseases	67	61
Diabetes mellitus	56	40
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	53	68
Alzheimer's disease	32	57
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	26	29
Influenza and pneumonia	19	20

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Alzheimer disease and dementia	131	152