Prairie State Wire

There were 55 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Illinois in the week ending Oct. 8, making up 3.2% of total deaths by all causes in Illinois, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Oct. 8, there were 1,722 deaths in the state. 21.7% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.5% were from cancer and 5.4% 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
Heart disease	374	21.7
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	370	21.5
Cerebrovascular diseases	93	5.4
Alzheimer's disease	74	4.3
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	73	4.2
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	55	3.2
Diabetes mellitus	42	2.4
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	38	2.2
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	31	1.8
Influenza and pneumonia	27	1.6