Sunshine Sentinel

There were 285 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending October 30, a 31.2 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 4,540 deaths in the state. 19.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.9 percent were from cancer and 13.6 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.9 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 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	904	863
Heart disease	872	883
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	331	481
Cerebrovascular diseases	285	295
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	285	414
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	186	206
Diabetes mellitus	143	122
Alzheimer's disease	113	114
Influenza and pneumonia	57	49
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	55	70

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	359	346