COVID-19: nearly 1/3 of Americans infected in 2020 – study

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COVID-19 has infected an estimated 103 million Americans, or nearly a third (31%) of the total United States population, by the end of 2020, according to a new university study.

Produced by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and published in the academic journal Nature, this is the first study to attempt to determine the overall burden of the virus in the United States in 2020.

For this study, the researchers used a model to simulate the transmission of the new coronavirus between and in the 3,142 US counties.

With this model, they found that the extent of infections varied across the country. For example, more than 60% of the population of the Mississippi Valley and the upper Midwest are believed to have contracted COVID-19. In contrast, 52% of people in Los Angeles were reportedly infected, along with 48% from Chicago, 44% from New York, 42% from Miami and only 27% from Phoenix.

The study also noted variations in when cases peaked, with seasonal trends noted in different cities.

Lower East Side, Manhattan (credit: Aleks Marinkovic / Unsplash)

By the end of the year, one in 130 Americans was thought to be contagious.

But most notably, the study provides a glimpse into the future, specifically finding ways to study how the COVID-19 landscape has changed since then. On the one hand, vaccines and improved public health measures have proven to be very useful. But on the other hand, there is a possibility of reinfection due to potentially decreasing antibodies and the emergence of newer, dangerous and more contagious variants.

However, these findings also come as some health experts in the United States prepare to consider a third COVID-19 vaccine. This follows the example of Israel, the first country to approve the booster.

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