New COVID-19 seroprevalence data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the Omicron surge infected a huge swath of Americans, with overall seroprevalence rising from 33.5% in December of 2021 to 57.7% in February 2022.
The data, which reflect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the blood, indicating a previous infection, were published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.The increase was seen most dramatically in children.
In kids ages 0 to 11, seroprevalence jumped from 44.2% to 75.2%, and in kids 12 to 17, it rose from 45.6% to 74.2%."As of February 2022, approximately 75% of children and adolescents had serologic evidence of previous infection with SARS-CoV-2, with approximately one third becoming newly seropositive since December 2021," the CDC and other US authors of the report said.Seroprevalence studies can help detect infections that were asymptomatic or unreported.
The antibodies detected are those produced only by natural infection—and not from vaccines.The presence of antibodies to a previous infection should not be interpreted as protection from future infections, the authors warned.