The Sconi

There were 78 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Wisconsin during the week ending August 28, a 52.9 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 28, there were 1,166 deaths in the state. 21.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.5 percent were from cancer and 16 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.3 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 2021-08-28	Number of Deaths 2021-08-21
Heart disease	251	228
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	227	219
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	108	73
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	78	51
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	57	42
Alzheimer's disease	39	35
Cerebrovascular diseases	32	46
Diabetes mellitus	29	31
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	24	15
Influenza and pneumonia	10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28	Number of Deaths 2021-08-21
Alzheimer disease and dementia	85	79