USC-LA County antibody suggests true COVID-19 infections higher than official count

The preliminary results of the University of Southern California and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health suggests that around 2.8% to 5.6% of adults in the county population (that’s roughly 221,000 to 442,000 adults) have already been infected by the coronavirus. This is the second antibody study to come out with the same conclusion [The first study in the US was conducted in Sta. Clara Country. Learn more here: Antibody Testing Shows Coronavirus Infected A Lot More People Than Previously Thought].

Editor’s Note: Knowing how many people have been infected with coronavirus but did not develop severe symptoms can help us look at COVID-19 objectively. 

Results of antibody tests should be considered in the official models used to predict the impact of COVID-19 to the health care system. And if we do find out that there are only a couple of people who would need hospitalization due to COVID-19, and these number of people will not overwhelm our hospitals, then what is the use of quarantining entire populations of healthy individuals?