Friday April 24th 2020
Study presented to 3000 citizens
Several million infected people in New York?
–
According to a study, one in five New Yorkers may already have corona antibodies. 3000 supermarket customers can be tested for the virus during the investigation. This would have infected 1.7 million people in New York City alone. However, the study has its pitfalls.
The number of people infected with corona in New York is apparently much higher than previously assumed: According to a study, one in five residents in the US metropolis may have been infected with the novel virus. In a large-scale study, antibodies to the pathogen were detected in 21 percent of New York’s, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday. In the entire state of New York it was just under 14 percent.
That would mean that around 2.6 million people have become infected in the state in the past few months – ten times more than the number of positive corona tests. In New York City alone there would be 1.7 million people. “It is crucial for every state to first know exactly how high the infection rate is,” said Cuomo, referring to the discussions about easing the exit restrictions.
For the study, 3,000 supermarket customers selected at random in the state were screened for antibodies. Governor Cuomo emphasized that the results are initially only preliminary. In addition, the choice of test subjects influences the result. So no people were tested who did not leave their home.
With the first official infection already 11,000 cases in New York?
Antibodies show that someone was infected with the coronavirus – and could mean at least temporary immunity for the carrier. The question of how many people have already been infected is crucial for a slow return to normal. There will have to be differences, Cuomo announced: “You will not proceed in the same way in a region with an infection rate of 21 percent as in a region with 3.5 percent.”
In the USA, another study on Thursday that assumes a much earlier start of the pandemic in New York City caused a stir. Accordingly, there could have been just under 11,000 cases in New York City alone when the first official infection was confirmed on March 1st – and a total of 28,000 in five major US cities that had officially reported 23 cases at the time.
New York is the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the United States. The situation had recently eased somewhat after weeks of curfew. The death toll after being infected with the coronavirus in the US state was 438 on Thursday for the fourth day in a row below the 500 mark. “This number is still falling – but not as quickly as we would like to see it”, said Cuomo. The number of newly infected people has been around 1,300 for days. “That is stable, but that is not great, we would like to see this decrease further.”
In the state with the city of the same name, according to official information, around 20,000 people have already died from the consequences of the lung disease Covid-19. That’s more than 40 percent of all deaths in the United States.
– .
