Great Lakes Wire

There were 42 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Michigan during the week ending August 7, a 35.5 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 7, there were 1,883 deaths in the state. 23 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.9 percent were from cancer and 4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.8 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 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Heart disease	433	454
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	412	419
Cerebrovascular diseases	100	105
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	89	81
Alzheimer's disease	69	75
Diabetes mellitus	51	48
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	42	31
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	33	24
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	33	22
Influenza and pneumonia	17	12

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Alzheimer disease and dementia	146	135