Empire State Today

There were 12 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in New York state during the week ending June 24, a 20% decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending June 24, there were 1,877 deaths in the state. 24.9% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.9% were from cancer and 1.8% were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.7% 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	Deaths in Week Ending June 24	Deaths in Week Ending June 17
Heart disease	468	457
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	392	421
Cerebrovascular diseases	77	66
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	70	88
Diabetes mellitus	42	46
Influenza and pneumonia	41	33
Alzheimer's disease	37	44
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	26	33
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	22	25
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	12	15

Cause of Death	Deaths in Week Ending June 24	Deaths in Week Ending June 17
Alzheimer disease and dementia	163	153