Evergreen Reporter

There were 206 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in the state of Washington during the week ending October 16, a 10.2 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 16, there were 1,408 deaths in the state. 17.6 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.5 percent were from cancer and 28.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 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 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	275	256
Heart disease	248	229
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	206	187
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	193	170
Alzheimer's disease	57	86
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	53	48
Cerebrovascular diseases	53	64
Diabetes mellitus	37	42
Influenza and pneumonia	16	11
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	14

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Alzheimer disease and dementia	127	148