According to a research study published in the Lancet, fewer than 10 per cent of adults in the United States had antibodies against coronavirus as of July, with only 10 per cent of these were tested seropositive.
Researchers at Stanford University carried out the study that highlighted the need to improvise public healthcare as racial and ethnic minorities are bearing the brunt of it.
The researchers wrote in their study: “During the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, fewer than 10 per cent of the US adult population formed antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, and fewer than 10 per cent of those with antibodies were diagnosed.”
They added: “Public health efforts to limit SARS-CoV-2 spread need to especially target racial and ethnic minority and densely populated communities.”
For the study, researchers carried out a cross-sectional study and examined 28,503 randomly selected adult patients receiving dialysis in 1,300 facilities across the US in July.
Study lead authors, Shuchi Anand, MD, Director, Center for Tubulointerstitial Kidney Disease at Stanford University, wrote: “Not only is this patient population representative ethnically and socio-economically, but they are one of the few groups of people who can be repeatedly tested.”
She added: “Because the renal disease is a Medicare-qualifying condition, they don’t face many of the access-to-care barriers that limit testing among the general population.”
Researchers mentioned in their study that people dwelling in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods were two-four times likelier to contract Covid-19 infection than the non-Hispanic white population.
Rates of Covid infection were 11.3-16.3 per cent in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, compared to 4.8 per cent in the majority non-Hispanic white population, the study revealed.
According to the researchers, their study will help the administration to roll out better measures before the next phase of the pandemic.