Sunshine Sentinel

There were 262 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida in the week ending Feb. 19, making up 13.3 percent of total deaths by all causes in Florida, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Feb. 19, there were 1,971 deaths in the state. 20.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.5 percent were from cancer and 29.8 percent were from COVID-19.

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	Cause of Death	% of Total Deaths
Heart disease	398	20.2
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	344	17.5
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	325	16.5
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	262	13.3
Cerebrovascular diseases	125	6.3
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	85	4.3
Diabetes mellitus	67	3.4
Alzheimer's disease	44	2.2
Influenza and pneumonia	24	1.2
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	17	0.9