Great Lakes Wire

There were 259 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Michigan during the week ending Feb. 5, a 33.4 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Feb. 5, there were 1,443 deaths in the state. 22.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.1 percent were from cancer and 38.3 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	Number of Deaths 2022-02-05	Number of Deaths 2022-01-29
Heart disease	331	461
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	294	450
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	259	389
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	233	325
Cerebrovascular diseases	62	105
Alzheimer's disease	58	91
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	52	89
Diabetes mellitus	32	55
Influenza and pneumonia	25	19
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	23	39