Old Dominion News

There were 23 deaths with influenza and pneumonia listed as the underlying cause reported in Virginia during the week ending December 11, a 27.8 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending December 11, there were 1,642 deaths in the state. 19.6 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.7 percent were from cancer and 20.5 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10.2 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 2021-12-11	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04
Heart disease	322	356
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	291	296
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	175	137
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	162	122
Cerebrovascular diseases	74	88
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	64	59
Diabetes mellitus	56	46
Alzheimer's disease	52	45
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	32	34
Influenza and pneumonia	23	18

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04
Alzheimer disease and dementia	168	193