Silver State Times

There were 35 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Nevada during the week ending July 3, a 34.6 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 3, there were 543 deaths in the state. 22.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.2 percent were from cancer and 13.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 6.6 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 2021-07-03	Number of Deaths 2021-06-26
Heart disease	121	108
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	88	97
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	37	30
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	35	26
Cerebrovascular diseases	33	31
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	22	23
Diabetes mellitus	15	15
Influenza and pneumonia	10	10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	< 10
Alzheimer's disease	< 10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-03	Number of Deaths 2021-06-26
Alzheimer disease and dementia	36	33