A new study suggests that New York City residents who are infected with the coronavirus may be six times more than the official count, a new study suggests.
Researchers at the Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai tested more than 10,000 blood samples for antibodies against the virus, Covid-19.
They found that about 22 percent of the samples contained antibodies, meaning that about 1.7 million people in the city had previously been infected.
That’s more than a sixfold increase from 256,881 infections confirmed by health officials.
In addition, the team found that some patients had antibodies in late February, several days before the case was first confirmed by New York City in March, indicating that the coronavirus was flowing much earlier than previously thought.
Researchers tested coronavirus antibody levels in more than 10,600 blood samples from patients treated at Mount Sinai in New York City. Pictured: A medical worker pushes a stretcher outside Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, New York, March 26.
Antibodies were detected in 22% of the samples, indicating that at least 1.7 million New Yorkers were infected – six times higher than the official count – in urgent care patients.
Regular care patients who received OB / GYN care or cardiac care had an antibody prevalence as high as 22.2% (above).
Dr. Flor, Professor of Vaccine Science, Ikea School of Medicine. “We saw the virus in January and so the idea was to take a look at it over time,” Florian Kramer told the Dailymail.com.
‘The motivation was really a figure of how many people would get infected.’
For the study, published in the journal Nature, the team analyzed more than that Between the weeks ending February 9 and July 5, 10,600 blood plasma samples from Mount Sinai Health System patients are tested.
The samples were divided into two groups. The first group of about 4,100 samples was from patients seen in the emergency department or hospitalized.
This ‘immediate care’ group served as a group representing the growing proportion of COVID-19 in the population.
The second group, out of approximately 50,000 samples, was referred to as the ‘regular care group’, who visited for reasons including OB / GYN care, oncology care and cardiac care.
The researchers said the samples were more closely related to the general population because the motives for these scheduled visits were not related to the virus.
They noted the presence of coronavirus antibodies, also known as seroprevalence, as well as the level of a person’s antibodies, or titers.
In the emergency care group, the prevalence of antibodies has dropped from 1.4 per cent to 56.7 per cent, with the highest rates seen since late March and late May.
In the regular care group, the prevalence was between 0.9 per cent and 22.2 per cent, with the highest rate of registration from June to July.
The investigation found antibodies in early February 23, a week before the first case was confirmed in New York City (above).
Overall, about 22 percent of the samples tested positive for antibodies, indicating that at least 1.7 million New Yorkers were infected with SARS-COV-2.
“Many of them were frustrated, many of them had mild symptoms and those people were never tested,” Mere said.
‘And that’s normal because very little testing was available in the beginning so we could very easily see that‘ so many people got infected. ‘
What’s more, antibodies were found in the sample as early as March 23, seven days before the case was confirmed before March 1.
Between May and July, both broad proportions and levels remained stable, indicating antibody levels in the population.
Additionally, based on confirmed deaths, which are currently 19,355, the team calculated one percent of infection deaths – ten times more than the flu, which is 0.1 percent.
“It’s really high,” Kramer said.
‘So in a way it’s both surprising but also expected Because we have been hit so hard and healthcare in New York has been overwhelmed.
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