Golden State Today

There were 972 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in California during the week ending September 4, a 7.4 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 4, there were 6,267 deaths in the state. 16.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.9 percent were from cancer and 32 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.6 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 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	972	905
Cerebrovascular diseases	332	299
Alzheimer's disease	330	289
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	196	189
Diabetes mellitus	195	186
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	91	92
Influenza and pneumonia	82	94
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	1,033	960
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	1,119	1,196
Heart disease	1,053	1,096

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Alzheimer disease and dementia	541	474