Prairie State Wire

There were 43 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Illinois during the week ending May 14, a 14% decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending May 14, there were 1,696 deaths in the state. 21.2% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.1% were from cancer and 4.1% 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	Deaths in Week Ending May 14	Deaths in Week Ending May 7
Heart disease	360	407
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	341	384
Cerebrovascular diseases	104	108
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	78	87
Alzheimer's disease	64	83
Diabetes mellitus	43	56
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	43	50
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	38	51
Influenza and pneumonia	31	27
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	26	34