Great Lakes Wire

There were 294 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Michigan during the week ending October 16, a 22.5 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 16, there were 2,159 deaths in the state. 21.4 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.7 percent were from cancer and 26 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 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Heart disease	462	473
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	404	388
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	294	240
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	267	228
Cerebrovascular diseases	100	111
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	93	87
Alzheimer's disease	91	70
Diabetes mellitus	63	60
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	34	32
Influenza and pneumonia	25	28

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Alzheimer disease and dementia	167	147