Old Dominion News

There were 69 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Virginia during the week ending June 24, a 11.3% increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending June 24, there were 1,439 deaths in the state. 20.4% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.3% were from cancer and less than 0.7% were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10.4% 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	Deaths in Week Ending June 24	Deaths in Week Ending June 17
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	307	306
Heart disease	294	285
Cerebrovascular diseases	82	81
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	69	62
Alzheimer's disease	43	40
Diabetes mellitus	37	50
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	34	24
Influenza and pneumonia	19	25
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	< 10	< 10
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	< 10	11

Cause of Death	Deaths in Week Ending June 24	Deaths in Week Ending June 17
Alzheimer disease and dementia	149	134