Empire State Today

There were 529 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in New York state during the week ending Jan. 29, a 14.1 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Jan. 29, there were 2,642 deaths in the state. 20.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 13.8 percent were from cancer and 43.7 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 2022-01-29	Number of Deaths 2022-01-22
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	625	733
Heart disease	552	578
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	529	616
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	364	434
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	93	80
Cerebrovascular diseases	92	98
Diabetes mellitus	67	88
Influenza and pneumonia	50	55
Alzheimer's disease	49	44
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	43	48

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2022-01-29	Number of Deaths 2022-01-22
Alzheimer disease and dementia	201	217