Keystone Today

There were 40 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Pennsylvania during the week ending July 31, a 66.7 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 31, there were 2,447 deaths in the state. 22.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.7 percent were from cancer and 3.5 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 2021-07-31	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24
Heart disease	540	538
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	532	478
Cerebrovascular diseases	114	129
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	97	94
Alzheimer's disease	73	54
Diabetes mellitus	55	69
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	53	54
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	46	31
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	40	24
Influenza and pneumonia	31	38

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24
Alzheimer disease and dementia	204	190