COVID-19 Cases in the US Could Be 10 Times Higher Than Reported

The Disease Control and Prevention Centers (CDC) director Robert Redfield Friday assured that the real number of COVID-19 cases in the United States could be as high as 24 million, which is 10 times more than the 2.4 million currently confirmed cases.

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"Massive antibody tests show that the total COVID-19's infection estimates are higher than today's numbers," Redfield explained.

These tests are increasingly detecting the presence of immune cells reacting to the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

A person can only test positive for virus' antibodies if they previously have been infected, whether if it was a long time ago or if they did not develop symptoms.

"Estimates show that about 10 times more people than detected have antibodies to the disease, which means they had it at some point," said.

Antibodies have been detected in a significant number of young people, an age group less likely to experience the disease's serious symptoms.

"Many of these young people were not diagnosed in the past," Redfield said.

Before this antibody study, testing focused on locating people with developed symptoms only.

In the CDC list of vulnerable people are also included persons who have asthma, obesity, dementia, type 2 diabetes, a brain stroke history, or are pregnant.