Prairie State Wire

There were 61 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending July 16, a 17.3% increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 16, there were 2,005 deaths in the state. 20% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.9% were from cancer and 7.3% were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.7% 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	Deaths in Week Ending July 16	Deaths in Week Ending July 9
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	419	442
Heart disease	400	426
Cerebrovascular diseases	111	121
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	85	72
Alzheimer's disease	70	87
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	69	73
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	61	52
Diabetes mellitus	58	58
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	43	44
Influenza and pneumonia	32	31

Cause of Death	Deaths in Week Ending July 16	Deaths in Week Ending July 9
Alzheimer disease and dementia	175	180