Empire State Today

There were 98 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in New York state during the week ending May 21, 2022, a 27.9% decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending May 21, 2022, there were 1,443 deaths in the state. 22.5% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.7% were from cancer and 11.4% were from COVID-19.

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	Deaths in Week Ending May 21, 2022	Deaths in Week Ending May 14, 2022
Heart disease	324	417
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	284	331
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	98	136
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	66	99
Cerebrovascular diseases	62	71
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	60	74
Alzheimer's disease	42	40
Diabetes mellitus	39	47
Influenza and pneumonia	36	41
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	32	27