Post by Odysseus on Jul 27, 2020 7:30:40 GMT
The US has by far the largest coronavirus outbreak in the world, but its 4 million reported infections are a small fraction of the true case total. A new model from the COVID-19 response team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that coronavirus cases are probably more than 10 times higher than the total tally in many parts of the country. The researchers performed antibody tests in 10 sites across the US, including early hotspots like New York City, western Washington, and the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as places with more recent outbreaks, like South Florida and Louisiana. Antibody tests can tell whether someone was previously infected with COVID-19 even if they didn't get diagnosed initially.
The researchers compared the results of those tests, collected from late March through mid-May, to the number of cases reported during that time. They estimated that there were around 1.8 million coronavirus cases across the 10 sites, but only 165,000 infections had been reported. That meant cases were almost 11 times higher than the official number. Projecting that discrepancy nationwide suggests the US saw 14.4 million infections over the period studied. Just 1.3 million infections were recorded during that time, however, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The study joins a slew of similar research that illustrates the degree to which coronavirus cases have been vastly underreported in the US.
,...
A few studies are coalescing around estimates similar to the CDC's. Research from MIT suggests that around 17.5 million people in the US had gotten COVID-19 by June 18 — around eight times the official number. And a study published in the journal Science found that the US probably saw around 8.7 million coronavirus cases in the last three weeks of March alone, though only 100,000 were officially counted during that time. That analysis was based on reports of flu-like illnesses from the CDC's influenza surveillance system. The researchers found that many states reported a surge of illnesses in March — about 2.8 million — that weren't attributable to the flu or seasonal respiratory diseases. They think most were coronavirus cases.
That study also suggested that just one-third of coronavirus patients in the US sought medical care in the first place, which would mean the actual surge of coronavirus cases was likely three times larger than those extra documented flu-like cases. That's how they arrived at an estimate of 8.7 million cases in March. Additionally, a CDC report published Tuesday found that Indiana's true case tally was 10 times higher than the one reported by the end of April. The primary reason US numbers are so low is that the country's testing capacity was severely hampered at the beginning of the pandemic. The CDC initially distributed faulty tests, then lingering shortages of accurate tests meant that only patients with severe symptoms were eligible.
The researchers compared the results of those tests, collected from late March through mid-May, to the number of cases reported during that time. They estimated that there were around 1.8 million coronavirus cases across the 10 sites, but only 165,000 infections had been reported. That meant cases were almost 11 times higher than the official number. Projecting that discrepancy nationwide suggests the US saw 14.4 million infections over the period studied. Just 1.3 million infections were recorded during that time, however, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The study joins a slew of similar research that illustrates the degree to which coronavirus cases have been vastly underreported in the US.
,...
A few studies are coalescing around estimates similar to the CDC's. Research from MIT suggests that around 17.5 million people in the US had gotten COVID-19 by June 18 — around eight times the official number. And a study published in the journal Science found that the US probably saw around 8.7 million coronavirus cases in the last three weeks of March alone, though only 100,000 were officially counted during that time. That analysis was based on reports of flu-like illnesses from the CDC's influenza surveillance system. The researchers found that many states reported a surge of illnesses in March — about 2.8 million — that weren't attributable to the flu or seasonal respiratory diseases. They think most were coronavirus cases.
That study also suggested that just one-third of coronavirus patients in the US sought medical care in the first place, which would mean the actual surge of coronavirus cases was likely three times larger than those extra documented flu-like cases. That's how they arrived at an estimate of 8.7 million cases in March. Additionally, a CDC report published Tuesday found that Indiana's true case tally was 10 times higher than the one reported by the end of April. The primary reason US numbers are so low is that the country's testing capacity was severely hampered at the beginning of the pandemic. The CDC initially distributed faulty tests, then lingering shortages of accurate tests meant that only patients with severe symptoms were eligible.
And yet we still have cons falsely asserting Covid-19 is not a problem!
