Empire State Today

There were 49 deaths with influenza and pneumonia listed as the underlying cause reported in New York state during the week ending October 30, a 36.1 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 2,187 deaths in the state. 21.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.5 percent were from cancer and 20.4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.6 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 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Heart disease	479	451
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	382	394
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	233	238
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	214	219
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	104	87
Cerebrovascular diseases	87	86
Diabetes mellitus	59	50
Influenza and pneumonia	49	36
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	35	35
Alzheimer's disease	35	39

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	167	170