Garden State Times

There were 118 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in New Jersey during the week ending September 4, a 14.6 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 4, there were 1,516 deaths in the state. 22.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.1 percent were from cancer and 14.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 6.7 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 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Heart disease	337	357
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	304	278
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	118	103
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	105	88
Cerebrovascular diseases	81	61
Diabetes mellitus	38	24
Alzheimer's disease	35	44
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	28	46
Influenza and pneumonia	23	27
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	22	21

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Alzheimer disease and dementia	101	116