Old Dominion News

There were 23 deaths with influenza and pneumonia listed as the underlying cause reported in Virginia during the week ending November 20, a 130 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending November 20, there were 1,545 deaths in the state. 20.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.3 percent were from cancer and 15.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.9 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 2021-11-20	Number of Deaths 2021-11-13
Heart disease	317	323
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	283	331
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	126	128
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	116	115
Cerebrovascular diseases	82	86
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	56	61
Diabetes mellitus	49	55
Alzheimer's disease	44	64
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	33	31
Influenza and pneumonia	23	10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-11-20	Number of Deaths 2021-11-13
Alzheimer disease and dementia	138	192