Empire State Today

There were 46 deaths with influenza and pneumonia listed as the underlying cause reported in New York state during the week ending September 11, a 91.7 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 11, there were 2,107 deaths in the state. 22.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.8 percent were from cancer and 15.2 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.7 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 2021-09-11	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04
Heart disease	481	432
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	396	387
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	167	164
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	153	149
Cerebrovascular diseases	81	78
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	73	69
Influenza and pneumonia	46	24
Diabetes mellitus	44	50
Alzheimer's disease	36	36
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	32	36

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04
Alzheimer disease and dementia	162	160