Study shows one in five New Yorkers have had COVID-19, Cuomo says

One in five New York City residents have been infected with COVID-19, according to a statewide study that tested antibodies, media outlets reported.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the preliminary results of the study on Thursday, according to Business Insider.

The study tested 3,000 people for coronavirus antibodies at grocery stores and other retailers in 19 New York counties and 40 localities, Cuomo said, according to CNBC.

Cuomo said the results could be “artificially high” because “these are people who were out and about shopping,” according to CNBC. “They were not people who were in their home, they were not people isolated, they were not people who were quarantined who you could argue probably had a lower rate of infection because they wouldn’t come out of the house.”

The study found that 21% of New York City residents had been infected, according to Business Insider. In Long Island, the number of people infected was 16.7%, 11.7% tested positive in Westchester and Rockland counties, and 3.6% were infected in the rest of New York, the outlet reported.

The study also showed that as many as 2.7 million people never knew they had COVID-19 because they were asymptomatic, The New York Times reported.

Cuomo said that based on the study, the death rate is probably about .05%, which is lower than officials previously believed, according to The New York Times.

“The testing also can tell you the infection rate in the population — where it’s higher, where it’s lower — to inform you on a reopening strategy,” Cuomo said, according to The New York Times. “Then when you start reopening, you can watch that infection rate to see if it’s going up and if it’s going up, slow down.”

This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Study shows one in five New Yorkers have had COVID-19, Cuomo says."