CDC: Most Americans Have Had Covid, Antibody Tests Show

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that more than half of all Americans had evidence of a prior coronaviruses infection in their bloodstream after the omicron variant raged nationwide.

According to the CDC's study, about 57.7% of Americans tested positive for coronaviruses in February, up from 33.5% in December.

The surge in positive Covid-19 tests nationwide from early December to mid-January is believed to be the result of the coronaviruses.

75.2% of children under 12 and 74.2% of children 12 to 17 tested positive for antibodies in February, compared to 63.7% of adults under the age of 50 and just 33.2% of seniors.

Children are less likely to bevaccinated against Covid-19 than adults, and seniors may have lower rates of antibodies because they are more cautious, according to a CDC study.

80.8 million people. According to the CDC, the total number of Covid-19 cases diagnosed nationwide as of Sunday was less than one-third of the total US population. Not all infections are caught through testing and not all test results are reported, so this number is likely to be a severe undercount.

Antibodies from a prior coronaviruses case seem to offer some protection against reinfection, though studies on the strength of natural immunity are mixed. CDC experts told several news outlets Tuesday that Americans seem to have a high degree of protection against Covid-19 through both vaccinations and prior infections.

Key Background

The country's dominant strain was the omicron variant, which was first spotted in the United States in December. More than one million new Covid-19 cases were diagnosed in the US in the month of January, up from 87,000 in December, according to the CDC. Covid-related deaths surged to more than 2,500 per day in early February, more than double the daily count in December, even though omicron appears to be less severe.

In the first week of April, the number of new US coronaviruses jumped from an average of 30,000 per day to 44,000, but case counts are still nowhere near their January peak. White House Covid-19 advisor Dr. Ashish Jha said in a CNN opinion piece that he doesn't think there will be another massive surge of infections.