Prairie State Wire

There were 20 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending May 21, a 23.1% decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending May 21, there were 1,491 deaths in the state. 19.7% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.9% were from cancer and 3.5% 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 21	Deaths in Week Ending May 14
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	297	341
Heart disease	294	360
Cerebrovascular diseases	99	104
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	86	78
Alzheimer's disease	56	64
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	45	38
Diabetes mellitus	32	43
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	32	43
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	20	26
Influenza and pneumonia	15	31