Prairie State Wire

There were 24 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois in the week ending May 14, making up 1.6% of total deaths by all causes in Illinois, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending May 14, there were 1,469 deaths in the state. 20.1% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.6% were from cancer and 4.4% were from COVID-19.

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	% of Total Deaths
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	303	20.6
Heart disease	296	20.1
Cerebrovascular diseases	94	6.4
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	69	4.7
Alzheimer's disease	57	3.9
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	41	2.8
Diabetes mellitus	35	2.4
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	33	2.2
Influenza and pneumonia	27	1.8
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	24	1.6