Garden State Times

There were 253 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in New Jersey during the week ending Feb. 5, a 40 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Feb. 5, there were 1,463 deaths in the state. 20.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 14.8 percent were from cancer and 38.6 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 2022-02-05	Number of Deaths 2022-01-29
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	311	495
Heart disease	306	361
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	253	422
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	217	284
Cerebrovascular diseases	64	83
Alzheimer's disease	58	66
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	41	51
Diabetes mellitus	35	39
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	30	37
Influenza and pneumonia	25	20