Los Angeles County coronavirus antibody testing has revealed the virus is far more contagious & less deadly than we originally believed.
According to a new antibody study the Chinese coronavirus infected about 4.1% of the population in California’s Los Angeles County, suggesting the region’s outbreak is between 28 and 55 times higher than the number of confirmed cases.
The new data demonstrates that the coronavirus death rate is far lower than initially predicted.
This news confirms previously seen data that suggests the death rate has been far lower than we originally predicted. Early data models suggested the death rate would be in the millions but that
Researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) and the L.A. Department of Public Health gleaned the data from antibody testing of about 863 county residents. Antibodies are an indication that an individual’s immune system has responded to a past infection.
USC and the health department released preliminary study results that found that roughly 4.1% of the county’s adult population has antibodies to the coronavirus, estimating that between 221,000 adults to 442,000 adults in the county have had the infection.
This new estimate is 28 to 55 times higher than the 7,994 confirmed cases of Covid-19 [coronavirus illness] reported to the county in early April. The number of coronavirus-related deaths in the county has now surpassed 600, according to the Department of Public Health. The data, if correct, would mean that the county’s fatality rate is lower than originally thought.
If accurate, the top end of the estimated number of L.A. County residents who may have contracted the virus would amount to more than half (56 percent) of the total number of cases in the United States, while the lower range would equal to about 30 percent of the overall number in America.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 20: A sign directs for COVID-19 testing to the homeless population in Skidrow during the coronavirus pandemic on April 20, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. COVID-19 has spread to most countries around the world, claiming over 169,000 lives and infecting over 2.4 million people. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)