SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in England following the first peak of the pandemic

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21237-w
• Publication Date: 2021-02-10T22:23:31Z
• Authors: Helen Ward; Christina Atchison; Matthew Whitaker; Kylie E. C. Ainslie; Joshua Elliott; Lucy Okell; Rozlyn Redd; Deborah Ashby; Christl A. Donnelly; Wendy Barclay; Ara Darzi; Graham Cooke; Steven Riley; Paul Elliott
• Keywords: Disadvantaged; Pandemic; Case fatality rate

Abstract England has experienced a large outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, disproportionately affecting people from disadvantaged and ethnic minority communities. It is unclear how much this excess due to differences in exposure associated with structural inequalities. Here, we report the REal-time Assessment Community Transmission-2 (REACT-2) national study over 100,000 people. After adjusting for test characteristics re-weighting population, overall antibody prevalence 6.0% (95% CI: 5.8-6.1). An estimated 3.4 million had developed antibodies SARS-CoV-2 by mid-July 2020. Prevalence two- three-fold higher among health care workers compared non-essential workers, Black or South Asian than white ethnicity, while age- sex-specific infection fatality ratios are similar across ethnicities. Our results indicate that hospitalisation mortality COVID-19 groups may reflect rates rather differential experience disease care.