Magnolia State News

There were 84 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Mississippi during the week ending July 31, a 50 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 31, there were 727 deaths in the state. 21 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 14.4 percent were from cancer and 24.2 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.8 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 2021-07-31	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24
Heart disease	153	140
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	105	137
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	92	60
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	84	56
Alzheimer's disease	39	24
Diabetes mellitus	28	34
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	27	31
Cerebrovascular diseases	23	34
Influenza and pneumonia	13	< 10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	13	15

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24
Alzheimer disease and dementia	57	51