Keystone Today

There were 95 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Pennsylvania during the week ending June 5, a 25.2 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending June 5, there were 2,570 deaths in the state. 22.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.4 percent were from cancer and 8.1 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 2021-06-05	Number of Deaths 2021-05-29
Heart disease	572	543
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	550	462
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	114	144
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	112	97
Cerebrovascular diseases	106	122
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	95	127
Diabetes mellitus	67	77
Alzheimer's disease	56	68
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	53	63
Influenza and pneumonia	39	16

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-06-05	Number of Deaths 2021-05-29
Alzheimer disease and dementia	197	209