Sunshine Sentinel

There were 414 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending July 24, a 51.6 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 24, there were 4,839 deaths in the state. 19.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.5 percent were from cancer and 18.1 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.7 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 2021-07-24	Number of Deaths 2021-07-17
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	945	868
Heart disease	945	885
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	463	298
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	414	273
Cerebrovascular diseases	302	298
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	226	216
Diabetes mellitus	146	138
Alzheimer's disease	131	133
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	69	60
Influenza and pneumonia	55	59

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24	Number of Deaths 2021-07-17
Alzheimer disease and dementia	374	354