Information dissemination on the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging since many of the reported cases of the virus are among the older generation. How do you remember terminologies such as the enhanced quarantines, abbreviations of agencies, names of people in the news, and more?
Since many of the patients of the coronavirus are older in age, the deaths also account for dementia and Alzheimer's disease. At least 15,000 more people from this age group in America have recently died from these diseases, pointing this to the rise of the pandemic cases, and the surge of deaths from the virus, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Did the coronavirus also affect Alzheimer's Fatalities
As the virus disrupted millions of lives worldwide, the deadly spread is joined by the health consequences of Alzheimer's and other forms of degenerative brain disorders common among older residents in long-term health homes.
Around 100,000 have died from dementia and Alzheimer's just from February to May, according to estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While not all of these deaths were from the coronavirus, the death rate is 18% more than the average for these disorders in recent years, Fox News added.
This number started to surge sharply in the middle of March, and right around the middle of April where about 250 more people with dementia are yielding to the disease each year, the CDC compounded.
There were deaths likely from COVID-19 and the coronavirus but were not accounted as such on their death certificates, the CDC told Fox News. According to health specialists, this is because of insufficient testing, especially in the earlier months of the pandemic, thus giving the undercount.
Conditions aggravated by COVID-19
However, there are more deaths this year that likely to represent damages collaterally, Robert Anderson, the CDC National Center for Health Statistics mortality-statistics branch chief said.
Patients diagnosed with the advanced forms of Alzheimer's and dementia are found with fragile health, relying on stable routines and close care from their relatives and other caregivers. However, they are very vulnerable to disruption.
Indiana University Center for Aging Research associate director Nicole Fowler said, "It's one fall, and it sets everything off. It's one day of no fluids and they become dehydrated and it sets off a chain of events. It's amazing how little it actually takes to upset their environment."
Right now, the world has recorded over 10 million cases of infected individuals from COVID-19, with five million recoveries.
Quarantine and lockdown measures are continuous in many parts of the world, but there are policies that have already eased, including allowing transportation vehicles to operate. Academic institutions have also started planning for the upcoming school year.
