Great Lakes Wire

There were 227 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Michigan during the week ending October 9, a 3.2 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 9, there were 2,116 deaths in the state. 22.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.3 percent were from cancer and 22 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 6.9 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 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Heart disease	471	469
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	387	432
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	239	239
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	227	220
Cerebrovascular diseases	108	116
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	87	105
Alzheimer's disease	70	91
Diabetes mellitus	60	50
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	32	48
Influenza and pneumonia	27	23

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Alzheimer disease and dementia	146	180