CDC Official Suggests 10 Times More Cases than Reported

Most Americans likely remain vulnerable to coronavirus infection and its potential outcomes, according comments from a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“In order to understand the proportion of the population that’s been infected with COVID-19, and what proportion remains at risk, CDC is currently performing large-scale serology testing across the United States,” Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC director, said during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing.

According to previous literature from the CDC, many commercial laboratories refer to serology tests as the antibody test.

“Preliminary results appear to show that most Americans have not been infected with the virus and are still vulnerable to the infection, serious illness and death," Redfield said.

Redfield said the health agency hopes to post the analysis from the first round of the study in the next several weeks.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. is approaching 7 million reported cases of COVID-19. In late July, Redfield issued a statement saying the CDC's "retrospective estimate is that there were 10 times more cases than reported from the period where we’ve been examining antibody data: March through May." The U.S. has a current population of around 330 million people.