Yellowhammer Times

There were 90 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Alabama during the week ending October 30, a 34.3 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 1,045 deaths in the state. 23.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.3 percent were from cancer and 17.9 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.4 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 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Heart disease	243	244
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	181	185
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	97	151
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	90	137
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	48	61
Cerebrovascular diseases	44	56
Alzheimer's disease	43	44
Diabetes mellitus	25	22
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	21	18
Influenza and pneumonia	11	24

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	88	89