Mountain State Times

There were 124 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in West Virginia during the week ending October 23, a 5.1 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 23, there were 138 deaths in the state. Less than 7.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, less than 7.2 percent were from cancer and 189.9 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 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	138	133
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	124	118
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	< 10	< 10
Heart disease	< 10	< 10
Influenza and pneumonia	0	0
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	0	0
Diabetes mellitus	0	< 10
Alzheimer's disease	0	0
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	0	0
Cerebrovascular diseases	0	< 10