High Seroprevalence of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Chelsea, Massachusetts

J Infect Dis. 2020 Nov 13;222(12):1955-1959. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaa579.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing allows quantitative determination of disease prevalence, which is especially important in high-risk communities. We performed anonymized convenience sampling of 200 currently asymptomatic residents of Chelsea, the epicenter of COVID-19 illness in Massachusetts, by BioMedomics SARS-CoV-2 combined IgM-IgG point-of-care lateral flow immunoassay. The seroprevalence was 31.5% (17.5% IgM+IgG+, 9.0% IgM+IgG-, and 5.0% IgM-IgG+). Of the 200 participants, 50.5% reported no symptoms in the preceding 4 weeks, of which 24.8% (25/101) were seropositive, and 60% of these were IgM+IgG-. These data are the highest seroprevalence rates observed to date and highlight the significant burden of asymptomatic infection.

Keywords: COVID-19; Chelsea Massachusetts; SARS-CoV-2; antibodies; epidemiology; immunoassay; lateral flow assay; seroprevalence; serosurveillance; validation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood*
  • Antibody Specificity
  • COVID-19 / diagnosis*
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology
  • COVID-19 / virology
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunoassay
  • Immunoglobulin G / blood
  • Immunoglobulin M / blood
  • Male
  • Massachusetts / epidemiology
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Point-of-Care Systems*
  • Regression Analysis
  • Seroepidemiologic Studies

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral
  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Immunoglobulin M