A new study says the number of coronavirus infections in the US could be 2 to 13 times higher than what was officially reported. With 3.9 million confirmed cases and more than 142,000 deaths, the United States is already at the epicenter of the global pandemic.
“That really, really points to the fact that a lot of infections have gone unnoticed,” internal medicine specialist Dr. Neeta Ogden told CBSN presenters Vladimir Duthiers and Anne-Marie Green. “There is a big gap in terms of what we think the number of cases was and how many people are actually infected.”
The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, looked for antibodies to the coronavirus in blood samples from just over 16,000 people at 10 different sites across the United States. The samples were collected between March and May, and came from patients who gave blood for routine medical procedures, such as a cholesterol test.
The presence of antibodies would indicate that a person had previously been infected with the virus, regardless of whether they ever tested positive or not. Based on the prevalence of antibodies, the researchers concluded that the actual number of infections was “much higher than the number of reported cases.”
According to CDC estimates, approximately 40% of people who have the virus do not exhibit symptoms.
“It really means that those people continue to go out in the community and circulate the virus unknowingly, and there is a big gap in terms of what we think the number of cases was and how many people are actually infected,” Ogden explained.
Despite the large circulation, the study also found that “most people” even in heavily affected areas Like New York City and Washington state, it had no signs of COVID-19 antibodies, which means that the vast majority of people in the United States are still “vulnerable and susceptible” to the coronavirus, Ogden said.
New York it was found that it had the highest proportion of antibodies for its population, with almost one in four residents testing positive. The figure is still well below the 60% threshold deemed necessary for herd immunity.
“The idea that people think, ‘Let the virus progress naturally through our community we will achieve herd immunity’ is not true,” said Ogden. “That dissipates when we look at these kinds of numbers.”
The study comes as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is skyrocketing in the US Several states have partially backed down on reopening measures. Hospitalizations are also increasing at a rapid rate, with ICU in Texas and Florida especially tense.
“Because we don’t have a national message Or the national leadership that spearheads this, states have been forced to create and develop their own metrics and are failing, “Ogden said.
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