Estimate: 3 Million Americans Contagious With COVID

The Washington Post reports:

More than 3 million people in the United States have active coronavirus infections and are potentially contagious, according to a new estimate from infectious-disease experts tracking the pandemic. That number is significantly larger than the official case count, which is based solely on those who have tested positive for the virus.

The vast — and rapidly growing — pool of coronavirus-infected people poses a daunting challenge to governors and mayors in hard-hit communities who are trying to arrest the surge in cases.

Traditional efforts such as testing, isolation of the sick and contact tracing can be overwhelmed when a virus spreads at an exponential rate, especially when large numbers of asymptomatic people may be walking around without even knowing they are infectious.

Read the full article.

How fast is the virus spreading? If you filled the U. of Michigan’s football stadium with a cross-section of random Americans, 1,000 of them would be contagious *right now*.https://t.co/9i4Gn5efCk

— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) November 18, 2020