Minnesota State Wire

There were 136 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Minnesota during the week ending October 9, a 21.4 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 9, there were 965 deaths in the state. 18 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.5 percent were from cancer and 26.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10.2 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 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	188	205
Heart disease	174	179
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	136	112
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	118	98
Alzheimer's disease	43	31
Cerebrovascular diseases	39	35
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	36	46
Diabetes mellitus	30	24
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Alzheimer disease and dementia	98	113