Peach Tree Times

There were 244 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Georgia during the week ending October 23, a 23.3 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 23, there were 1,845 deaths in the state. 19.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.9 percent were from cancer and 27.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.2 percent 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	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Heart disease	360	388
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	348	314
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	267	344
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	244	318
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	89	78
Alzheimer's disease	82	73
Cerebrovascular diseases	77	92
Diabetes mellitus	50	45
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	41	38
Influenza and pneumonia	18	27

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Alzheimer disease and dementia	152	146