Grand Canyon Times

There were 64 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Arizona during the week ending July 24, a 36.2 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 24, there were 1,238 deaths in the state. 18.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17 percent were from cancer and 10.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8 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 2021-07-24	Number of Deaths 2021-07-17
Heart disease	234	246
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	211	253
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	69	52
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	64	47
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	58	54
Alzheimer's disease	48	37
Cerebrovascular diseases	48	76
Diabetes mellitus	46	39
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	14	17
Influenza and pneumonia	13	11

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24	Number of Deaths 2021-07-17
Alzheimer disease and dementia	99	96