Evergreen Reporter

There were 264 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in the state of Washington during the week ending September 4, a 38.9 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 4, there were 1,522 deaths in the state. 16 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.5 percent were from cancer and 33.4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.3 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 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	281	257
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	264	190
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	245	179
Heart disease	244	241
Alzheimer's disease	70	54
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	61	53
Cerebrovascular diseases	57	58
Diabetes mellitus	48	33
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	15	< 10
Influenza and pneumonia	11	15

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Alzheimer disease and dementia	127	105