Sunshine Sentinel

There were 183 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Florida during the week ending July 3, a 14.4 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 3, there were 4,370 deaths in the state. 19.6 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.9 percent were from cancer and 7.6 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 2021-07-03	Number of Deaths 2021-06-26
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	914	874
Heart disease	857	956
Cerebrovascular diseases	283	277
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	216	199
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	183	160
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	149	136
Diabetes mellitus	138	144
Alzheimer's disease	127	115
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	51	54
Influenza and pneumonia	47	61

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-03	Number of Deaths 2021-06-26
Alzheimer disease and dementia	394	328