Prairie State Wire

There were 43 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois in the week ending July 2, making up 2.6% of total deaths by all causes in Illinois, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 2, there were 1,635 deaths in the state. 21.5% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.2% were from cancer and 6.1% 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	Number of Deaths	% of Total Deaths
Heart disease	351	21.5
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	347	21.2
Cerebrovascular diseases	95	5.8
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	83	5.1
Alzheimer's disease	78	4.8
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	56	3.4
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	43	2.6
Diabetes mellitus	39	2.4
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	37	2.3
Influenza and pneumonia	21	1.3