CDC: COVID-19 infected more than 75% of Americans 16 and older

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: UPI

While a little more than half of American adults think they've had COVID-19, the reality is about 77.5% have been infected at least once, new government data shows. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released final estimates for people ages 16 and up for 2022.

About 96.7% of adults had antibodies to the virus either from infection, vaccination or a combination of the two, the CDC reported. But U.S. census data shows that only 54.9% of Americans think they have had COVID-19.

While young adults and teens had the highest percentage of prior infection at 87.1%, seniors were the least likely to have had a prior infection, with about 56.5% of those over 65 having had COVID-19, the CDC found. The teen and young adult category includes those ages 16 to 29.

"It's become very difficult to measure prior infection in vaccine effectiveness studies. So, if you think about the typical person being hospitalized that's picked up in one of these studies, they may have had half a dozen prior infections that they did a nasal swab at home and were never reported," the CDC's Ruth Link-Gelles said at a meeting of its outside advisors recently, CBS News reported.

Read more: https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2023/07/05/usCOVID-infection-rate/8301688562687/

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Link to CDC study page - https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#nationwide-blood-donor-seroprevalence-2022
Additional data publication - https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7225a3.htm

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. I still wear my mask when i am out in public

So far, I have not had a case of COVID. I am also on metformin and budenside which both have proven to help resist COVID

[jimfields33]

4. I had it after a cruise in October 2022.

It was a weird flu but gone after 5 days traveling up my body. Nothing to worrisome, but just strange. If you got it, you’d know. It wouldn’t destroy your life, but just disrupt it for a week.

[LymphocyteLover]

34. I got it around then too. Good description-- a weird flu

Nothing too severe but it lingered for a while. I was worried about long term effects but nothing thankfully

[Showbizkid]

50. It was definitely different

My whole family got it in January 2022. All I did was sleep and sweat for a week. I never felt "bad" exactly just unable to move a lot.

It's hard to explain.

[CrispyQ]

5. Me too.

I kind of freaked the first time I walked into the medical center & they'd gotten rid of their mask requirement. The nurse said, "Your pulse is a lot higher than usual." But then she put on a mask & told me that legally, in CO anyway, the patient can request medical personnel treating them to wear a mask & they have to.

[Oopsie Daisy]

15. So do I. (Not while driving. Not while walking the dog. Not in the parking lot.)

But I do whenever I'm shopping at the grocery store, Costco, Lowe's, Michael's, and Amazon.com. (Just kidding about online shopping.) 🙄🤣😂👍

[oldsoftie]

17. You may have had it & never known. That happened with me.

Had bloodwork done & They told me I had the antibodies from a previous infection & they can tell the difference between Vaccine & infection antibodies.
But maybe the budenside you mentioned above helped; I use it too in an irrigator.

A few months after that test, my wife had it & I never tested positive or had symptoms. Its a strange bug

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I had Covid before it had a name Feb. 2019.

Strange coughing of 20 rapid short coughs and unable to take a breath.

Discovered I had it when I donated blood and antibodies were found (4 months later).

[Rebl2]

8. That was a year

before we had even heard of it. My husband and I have discussed if it was here well before 2020.

[mercuryblues]

27. I have wondered the same thing.

I had a friend die in November 2019, from pneumonia. Just before Covid was recognized.

[Gruenemann]

10. I suspect my spouse had it that summer

She was so ill, she thought she was dying. She had a cough and incredible weakness. No appetite, lots of fever. Never seen anything like it. We were in Scotland at the time and NHS doctor diagnosed a lung infection. He gave her antibiotics and Paracetamol. She was better in a few days.

I could wax rhapsodic about the wonderful, FREE medical care she got, but that's another topic.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

14. I don't remember getting sick

but after giving blood I got a letter from the blood center telling me there were Covid antibodies in my blood. I never felt a thing

[Rebl2]

30. Were you

vaccinated, if I may ask? Was it before 2020?

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

33. Yes and no.

I think I got my first shot in Jan of 21. The second part 30 days later. The letter from the blood center came after I donated blood after getting the shot. So yeah,maybe they actually detected the vaccine versus my getting it.

[barbtries]

16. i may have had it in Oct2019,

got sick in CA and it went on for 9 days, was absolutely miserable. I had to fly during the time i was sick and sometimes wonder if I'm patient 1 in NC, but will never know, because COVID was still unheard of. To my knowledge have not had it since, which i am thankful for because i have most of the comorbidities and stand an excellent chance of getting very sick or even dying from it.

[Tree Lady]

37. I got sick in CA in Dec 19 & Jan

lasting 5 weeks with worst thing I ever had. I will never know if it was covid but they say you get stronger reactions to vaccine if you did and I get strong one every time.

I had it for real with test last December after sharing hotel room with my adult kids and girl friend who wasn't feeling good and got us all sick. I took paxlovid and was only sick for 3 days. That stuff works.

I am getting a booster tomorrow because we are traveling in Aug. not looking forward to sore arm.

[xocetaceans]

31. How exactly does that work? Did you mistype something? n/t

[Tomconroy]

3. That's actually a good thing. Infection stimulates an

Immunity reaction in the same way the vaccine does. Prior to covid MRNA vaccines, all vaccines were simply a mild form of the disease.
Many of the unvaccinated now have immunity to serious illness and death from covid.

https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/past-covid-infection-protects-against-severe-disea#:~:text=Previous%20COVID%20infection%20provides%20a,study%20published%20in%20The%20Lancet.

[IronLionZion]

6. I didn't know I had it until I took a test

I'm vaxxed to the max so it was quite mild for me.

[róisín_dubh]

9. Got it twice unfortunately.

First time was likely Delta (rampant in the UK in July 2021). I've been jabbed in March of that year and had fatigue and no taste and generally felt cruddy for a couple of days. The concerning bit was the heart racing, but the cardiologist checked me out and all looked fine.
I got it again in March 2022. I felt bad for 24hours, then fine. But I had migraines and weird joint pain for awhile after.
I got the Omicron booster in September and have been exposed three times that I know of since...and nothing. So, I'm hoping I can get another Omicron shot in September when I'm back in the US.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. I *thought* I had it several times

and did have it once, though I never took a test and *oh* the sore throat-sinus cycles. That last September and the symptoms confirmatory.

But I had mini-flash colds: March 2020, April 2021, etc.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

11. I only know a few people who haven't had confirmed cases of it.

Everyone else has I know has had it, most multiple times now.

[LisaM]

46. As far as I know, neither my partner nor I have had it.

We have both been vaccinated five times. We also live in a highly vaccinated area.

I masked pretty frequently until this spring, don't do many indoor events, and work from home. The biggest change I have made is social distancing when possible (standing farther apart from other people in lines, for example).

[ananda]

12. I never had Covid. But I did get RSV.

I can't wait for the next Covid booster.

[Happy Hoosier]

13. No one in my family tested positive for it....

... though we suspected infection a few times. Who knows if we actually had it or not.

[oldsoftie]

18. It sounds bad, but I know a few people who could use a bad case of it

You know the types; "its all overblown" "Its just the flu". Etc Etc

[LudwigPastorius]

19. I got what I thought was a real bad cold the 2nd week of January 2020.

Now I suspect it was COVID.

I've been max vaxxed since the shots became available and have never had a confirmed case. (knock wood)

[llmart]

20. I haven't had it and neither has my son.

I can't remember the last time I was sick. I've had all five vaccines so far.

[Johnny2X2X]

21. Had it tice that I know of

Perhaps it was 3 or 4 times, who knows? Wife has never tested postive for it and never gotten sick when I had it, perhaps she had asymptomatic cases of it.

[Torchlight]

22. Weird looking back a few years ago

when my Skepticism-For-It's-Own-Sake co-worker was getting really overly-dramatic in March 2020, asking anyone who wouldn't walk away, "Am I the only who thinks we're over-reacting to the flu?"

Two days later, the office was closed for three months, and she was admitted to the hospital for covid only six days after we returned to work. Thankfully, she came back to work, and may have actually learned that diseases don't really care about our opinions one way or the other.

[Bayard]

23. I still wear my mask if I go out somewhere

Not going to take a chance with asthma. I'm usually the only one, except for a few older folks (well, older than me!) Not happy that doctors' office personnel no longer wear them for the most part.

I don't think I've had Covid. I usually get a few sinus infections every year though. Maybe that was one time.

[MichMan]

24. Never got it nor did my spouse

Both of us got the single dose JNJ vaccine in April of 2021 and never got any boosters. Stopped wearing masks as soon as they weren't mandated.

[donniethemonnie]

25. same here

same here, also felt like the vaccine was not needed for us

[mercuryblues]

26. Sure Jan.

Neither was the polio vaccine, or the Measles, Mumps and Rubella; pertussis. Definitely never get the shingle vaccine.

Edited in. If you don't believe in vaccines, get a bone marrow transplant and it will wipe out all your vacs, you can be a pure blood again. You would also be prone to getting childhood diseases. I hear MMR are the fun ones.

[MichMan]

28. I said I got a Covid vaccine

Is your reply directed towards me?

"Both of us got the single dose JNJ vaccine in April of 2021"

I also got the Polio on a sugar cube when I was a child, and the Shingles a few years ago. Probably had the others you mentioned 60 years ago.

[mercuryblues]

29. I was replying to Donnythemonnie

an anti-vaxer.

[Skittles]

38. thank you

the ignorance is mind-boggling

[Skittles]

39. I could have guessed that about you

yup

[MichMan]

40. That neither of us ever got it?

Weird

[Elessar Zappa]

47. You could have had it and not even known.

Many cases are asymptomatic.

[MichMan]

49. Possible

Never got tested because there was no reason to suspect that I had ever caught it.

[marble falls]

48. Lucky you.

[stage left]

32. Down here

in South Carolina, I'm still wearing a mask when I go in any store. I've never had anyone say one thing to me about it. Maybe it's the expression in my eyes.

Interesting about Metformin. I take it, too, and, to my knowledge I've not had Covid.

[Skittles]

36. if anyone says anything

tell them you HAVE covid and watch them back away - hypocrites

[stage left]

42. That's a good one.

But knowing me, I'd just tell them that what I do is none of their damned business.

[Skittles]

35. I haven't had it

and I donate platelets every month (62 gallons total) so my blood is tested a lot

[Rocknation]

41. I'm fully vaccinated, but I wouldn't be surprised if I were to test as immune

Last edited Tue Oct 17, 2023, 12:08 PM - Edit history (11)

Three days short of the eight weeks after my first Covid booster (it takes eight weeks for vaccine antibodies to become fully operational), I went through a few hours of no appetite, fatigue, feverishness, and a slight headache, culminating in not-so-slight diarrhea. I dismissed it as the "common" flu aggravated by overpartying the night before, and ended up feeling more than well enough to go out again that very evening. At the time, I didn't know that absence of appetite and diarrhea are not uncommon with Covid.

Within the Covid 2-to-14 day incubation period prior to my feeling ill, I had attended a pair of socially UN-distanced musical events -- one indoors, one outdoors. Had either of them triggered an encounter of the Covid kind that my vaccines had squashed?


Rocknation

[electric_blue68]

43. So far, so good (for me). But Wow, That many! ...

I mask quite strictly still indoors, public transit, infrequent car service, and if the streets get too crowded
At least in NYC lots of people still mask.

I still have very restricted my traveling but I'm about get back to going out into Manhattan midtown, lower Man etc a few times a month. Getting back on the subway, too, which I've hardly used except for one short time last year she nice covid19.

I get tested so I know I haven't had it

[Carlitos Brigante]

44. Going through it for the first time now. If course had to catch it in FL. nt

[Raftergirl]

45. Still Covid free as far as I know.

I still mask indoors and the only thing I won’t do is eat inside a restaurant.

I have not even had a sniffle since the pandemic started.

I also have not missed a chance to get boosted. Had my last one in May.