Old North News

There were 33 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in North Carolina during the week ending Feb. 5, a 71.6 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Feb. 5, there were 240 deaths in the state. 17.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.8 percent were from cancer and 30 percent 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	Number of Deaths 2022-02-05	Number of Deaths 2022-01-29
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	50	156
Heart disease	42	113
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	39	144
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	33	116
Cerebrovascular diseases	12	35
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	10	42
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	< 10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	< 10
Diabetes mellitus	< 10	14
Alzheimer's disease	< 10	37