A preliminary survey of New York state residents found that nearly 14% of those tested had antibodies against the novel coronavirus, suggesting that some 2.7 million may already have been infected, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday, Reuters reports.
While noting the small sample size of 3,000 people and other limitations of the survey, Cuomo said the implied fatality rate of 0.5% of those infected was lower than some experts feared.
“If the infection rate is 13.9 percent, then it changes the theories of what the death rate is if you get infected,” Cuomo told a daily briefing.
The implied fatality rate of 0.5% was calculated by dividing the official statewide death count to date of about 15,500 by the estimated number of infected – 14% of New York’s 19 million residents, or 2.7 million people.
As of Thursday, New York had 263,460 confirmed cases and a death toll of 15,740, according the state’s official count, or nearly 6% of those who tested positive for the coronavirus.
Among other limitations, Cuomo said the official death count was surely an undercount because it only included people who had died in hospitals or nursing homes and not those who expired at home without a diagnosis of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus.
The survey targeted people who were out shopping, but not working, meaning they were probably not essential workers like grocery clerks or bus drivers. Those surveyed were more likely to test positive for antibodies than someone isolated at home, Cuomo said.
Even after discounting those factors, Cuomo said the preliminary data added to his understanding of the virus and would inform his plans to reopen the state, with social distancing measures possibly relaxed more quickly in less infected regions.
Cuomo said the state would keep adding to the sample size in the coming weeks and would test more in African-American and Hispanic communities, which made up disproportionately high percentages of positive tests in the survey so far, Reuters adds.
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