Old Dominion News

There were 203 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Virginia during the week ending October 16, a 6 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 16, there were 1,517 deaths in the state. 19.6 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.5 percent were from cancer and 27.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 9 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 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Heart disease	298	281
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	250	260
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	217	231
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	203	216
Cerebrovascular diseases	69	67
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	58	54
Diabetes mellitus	45	56
Alzheimer's disease	33	32
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	32	26
Influenza and pneumonia	20	19

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Alzheimer disease and dementia	136	131