Coronavirus: Los Angeles County alone may have hundreds of thousands of infections, US researchers find
- Report says 2.8 to 5.6 per cent of adult residents have Covid-19 antibodies, roughly translating to 221,000 to 442,000 cases of past exposure
- Number for exceeds 8,000 official cases reported at time of study
Hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles County residents may have been infected with the coronavirus by early April, far outpacing the number of officially confirmed cases, according to a report released on Monday.
The initial results from the first large-scale study tracking the spread of the coronavirus in the county found that 2.8 per cent to 5.6 per cent of adults have antibodies to the virus in their blood, an indication of past exposure.
That translates to roughly 221,000 to 442,000 adults who have recovered from an infection, according to the researchers conducting the study, even though the county had reported fewer than 8,000 cases at that time.
“We haven’t known the true extent of Covid-19 infections in our community because we have only tested people with symptoms, and the availability of tests has been limited,” study leader Neeraj Sood, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Price School for Public Policy, said in a statement.
“The estimates also suggest that we might have to recalibrate disease prediction models and rethink public health strategies.”