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BREAKING NEWS Antibody study shows hundreds of thousands more could have had COVID-19 in the past

Up to 442,000 people in L.A. County may have already had coronavirus, antibody study estimates

LOCAL NEWS

by: Nouran Salahieh

Posted: Apr 20, 2020 / 02:03 PM PDT / Updated: Apr 20, 2020 / 02:19 PM PDT

Breaking news update:

Officials released the preliminary results of an antibody study in Los Angeles County Monday, estimating that hundreds of thousands more people may have been infected with the coronavirus in the past, even without showing any symptoms.

Scientists from the University of Southern California and the county’s public health department tested a random sample 863 L.A. County residents between April 10 and 14, finding coronavirus antibodies in the blood of around 4.1% of them, “with a range that could be as low as 2.8% and as high as 5.6% when you factor in the reliability of the tests,” the county’s public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer announced.

This translates to an estimated 221,000 to 442,000 adults in the county who may have been infected at some point with COVID-19, she said.

“Although I report every day that we have thousands of thousands of people that have tested positive, the serology testing lets us know that we have hundreds of thousands of people that have already developed antibodies to the virus because at some point in time over the last couple of months, they have in fact been infected with COVID-19,” Ferrer said.

Ferrer said the study suggests that the number of people in the county with a past or current infection is 28 to 55 times higher than the number of confirmed cases found through testing for current infections, which was at 13,816 Monday.

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/up-to-442000-people-in-l-a-county-may-have-already-had-coronavirus-antibody-study-estimates/