US had nearly 17 million undiagnosed COVID-19 cases in early months of pandemic
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/us-17-million-undiagnosed-covid-19-cases-early/story?id=78447577
Blood samples were collected from 8,058 volunteer participants primarily between May 10 and July 31, 2020, which were then analyzed to detect antibodies against COVID-19. Of the approximate 8,000 blood samples, 304 contained antibodies.
Based on those findings, the researchers estimated that 4.6% of U.S. adults had undiagnosed cases of COVID-19 during their study period -- which was also at a time when labs were still reporting a shortage of supplies and personal protective equipment needed to test patients.
The NIH report, which was published this week in Science Translational Medicine, represents the first data from a 12-month study launched in April 2020.
By analyzing blood samples of more than 8,000 people who were not previously diagnosed with the virus -- along with socioeconomic, health and demographic data -- NIH researchers estimated that for every diagnosed COVID-19 case during the spring and summer of 2020, there were 4.8 undiagnosed cases -- representing an additional 16.8 million cases.
"The estimate of COVID-19 cases in the United States in mid-July 2020, 3 million in a population of 330 million, should be revised upwards by almost 20 million when the percent of asymptomatic positive results is included,"
