Sunshine Sentinel

There were 747 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending October 9, a 28.5 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 9, there were 5,043 deaths in the state. 17.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.7 percent were from cancer and 31.1 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 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Heart disease	901	872
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	892	899
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	820	1,142
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	747	1,045
Cerebrovascular diseases	292	317
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	211	193
Diabetes mellitus	152	143
Alzheimer's disease	124	132
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	61	57
Influenza and pneumonia	48	58

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Alzheimer disease and dementia	388	370