Empire State Today

There were 65 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in New York state during the week ending June 5, a 12.2 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending June 5, there were 1,954 deaths in the state. 23.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.1 percent were from cancer and 7.4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.4 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 2021-06-05	Number of Deaths 2021-05-29
Heart disease	459	417
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	413	389
Cerebrovascular diseases	85	95
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	80	98
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	72	91
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	65	74
Diabetes mellitus	52	61
Influenza and pneumonia	35	30
Alzheimer's disease	35	37
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	28	36

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-06-05	Number of Deaths 2021-05-29
Alzheimer disease and dementia	145	147