The Sconi

There were 160 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Wisconsin during the week ending September 18, a 19.4 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 18, there were 1,253 deaths in the state. 19.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.3 percent were from cancer and 22.8 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 9.8 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 2021-09-18	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11
Heart disease	241	226
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	217	213
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	160	134
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	126	105
Alzheimer's disease	55	46
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	52	54
Cerebrovascular diseases	51	48
Diabetes mellitus	38	32
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	16	21
Influenza and pneumonia	11	10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-18	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11
Alzheimer disease and dementia	123	109