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American researchers have found evidence that the coronavirus was spreading through the American population long before it was first observed.
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined 7,389 blood samples from various states between December 13 and January 17 and found that 106 people had antibodies to COVID-19, indicating that they had been exposed to the virus. Of these, 39 samples taken between December 13 and 16 in Oregon, Washington and California had antibodies.
The first American case was confirmed on January 20.
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“SARS-CoV-2 infections may have been present in the US in December 2019, earlier than previously recognized,” the study authors said.
Recent data has shown that the virus was spreading around the world sooner than previously thought.
Italian researchers said last month that the coronavirus was circulating in northern Italy as early as September 2019, long before the initial COVID-19 outbreak was identified in Wuhan, China.
The number of people receiving treatment in US hospitals for COVID-19 surpassed 100,000 for the first time on Wednesday, a monitor said.
“There are 100,226 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the US, the first time hospitalizations have exceeded 100,000,” the COVID Tracking Project said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the United States surpassed 2,700 in one day as of Wednesday night, the highest since April, Johns Hopkins University said.
A stretcher is loaded into an ambulance after EMTs dropped off a patient at a newly opened field hospital operated by Care New England to handle a surge in COVID-19 patients in Cranston, Rhode Island, on Tuesday 1 December 2020 (AP Photo / David Goldman)
The new tally of 2,731 deaths brings the total known death toll in the United States to 273,181 since the pandemic began late last year.
The number of new infections in the past 24 hours was 195,121, the university said.
The United States expects to have immunized 100 million people against COVID-19 by the end of February, a senior official, representing about 40 percent of the country’s adult population, said Wednesday.
The momentum should begin in a few weeks, when the vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna-NIH are expected to be approved.
Each of these requires two doses, the second after three weeks and four weeks, respectively.
Sherry Becerril, left, holds Sophia Becerril as she takes photos of Evan Becerril after they chose a Christmas tree Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020, in Long Beach, Calif. (AP Photo / Ashley Landis)
“Between mid-December and the end of February, we will have potentially immunized 100 million people,” Moncef Slaoui, scientific advisor to the government’s Operation Warp Speed program, told reporters.
This, he continued, would cover the “at risk” population comprising the elderly, health workers and first responders.
There will be a “large” amount of vaccine to immunize three million residents of long-term care facilities in December, said the former pharmaceutical executive, who was recruited by the administration of President Donald Trump in the spring.
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