More than a tenth of New Yorkers have been infected by the coronavirus, according to preliminary data released by the state Thursday.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat from New York, announced the results of a study Thursday that found an infection rate in New York state of 13.9%. With a population of about 19.4 million, that would mean the number of people infected in the state is more than 2.7 million. That is 10 times greater than the official number of coronavirus cases in New York: 257,216.
“We have preliminary data on phase one, and this is going to be ongoing,” said Cuomo. “We’re going to continue testing on a rolling basis. We’ll have a larger and larger sample.”
The study collected about 3,000 antibody tests from 40 different localities in 19 different counties. They collected the samples from people who were shopping at big box retailers and grocery stores. That raises the possibility that the study is biased, as people who are out shopping may also be people more likely to be exposed to the virus.
The study yielded an infection fatality ratio of 0.6%, higher than similar studies. The infection fatality ratio in a study of Santa Clara County in California was only 0.1%-0.2%, and one in Germany was 0.37%. It is lower than the fatality ratio of 6% based on confirmed cases and deaths in New York.
The study also supports claims that the pandemic disproportionately affects black and Latino populations. While blacks and Latinos are 14.3% and 17.6% of the population of New York, respectively, their infection rates are at 22.1% and 22.5%.
