It is estimated that as many as 103 million Americans have been infected Coronavirus disease According to a new study released at the end of 2020, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
The research was published in Nature Magazine, Indicating that 31% of the U.S. population was infected with COVID last year, but only 22% of infections were reported through public health testing.
The university stated that it conducted the study to “quantify the overall burden and characteristics of COVID-19 in the United States in 2020.”
In this study, researchers used population, mobility, and confirmed case data to simulate the spread of COVID within and between all 3,142 counties in the United States.
There, they found that in the upper Midwest and the Mississippi Valley, by the end of 2020, it is estimated that more than 60% of the population had been infected with the virus. In Chicago alone, they found that 48% of residents were infected with COVID, and 52% of Los Angeles residents were infected with the virus by the end of 2020.
Other metropolitan areas also have high Infect Rates during the same time period include Miami (42%), New York City (44%) and Phoenix (27%).
Researchers infer that the “incomplete picture” is due to “suffering from mild or Progressive infectionPeople who can still spread the virus are unlikely to be tested. “
Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, said in a statement: “The vast majority of infectious diseases are not explained by the number of confirmed cases.” “It is these undocumented cases. It is usually a mild or asymptomatic infectious case, allowing the virus to spread rapidly among a wider range of people.”
However, researchers believe that by 2021, the virus will spread to people who have not yet been infected, while vaccine Severe diseases and deaths will be prevented, “new and more infectious mutations make reinfection and breakthrough infections more likely.”
Photo: AFP/STR
