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Emerg Infect Dis
. 2022 Jan 26;28(3).
doi: 10.3201/eid2803.211495. Online ahead of print.
SARS-CoV-2 Period Seroprevalence and Related Factors, Hillsborough County, Florida, October 2020-March 2021
Anna R Giuliano, Shari Pilon-Thomas, Michael J Schell, Martha Abrahamsen, Jessica Y Islam, Kimberly Isaacs-Soriano, Kayoko Kennedy, Christopher W Dukes, Junmin Whiting, Julie Rathwell, Jonathan A Hensel, Leslie N Mangual, Ernst Schonbrunn, Melissa Bikowitz, Dylan Grassie, Yan Yang
- PMID: 35081021
- DOI: 10.3201/eid2803.211495
Abstract
Estimating the actual extent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic is challenging because virus test positivity data undercount the actual number and proportion of persons infected. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence is a marker of past SARS-CoV-2 infection regardless of presence or severity of symptoms and therefore is a robust biomarker of infection period prevalence. We estimated SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among residents of Hillsborough County, Florida, USA, to determine factors independently associated with SARS-CoV-2 antibody status overall and among asymptomatic antibody-positive persons. Among 867 participants, SARS-CoV-2 period prevalence (October 2020-March 2021) was 19.5% (asymptomatic seroprevalence was 8%). Seroprevalence was 2-fold higher than reported SARS-CoV-2 virus test positivity. Factors related to social distancing (e.g., essential worker status, not practicing social distancing, contact with a virus-positive person, and length of contact exposure time) were consistently associated with seroprevalence but did not differ by time since suspected or known infection (<6 months vs. >6 months).
Keywords: COVID-19; Florida; Hillsborough County; SARS-CoV-2; United States; coronavirus disease; respiratory infections; seroepidemiologic studies; seroprevalence; serosurvey; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; vaccine-preventable diseases; viruses; zoonoses.