High amounts of COVID-19 antibodies found among Washington children
Dec 16, 2022, 7:52 AM | Updated: 9:29 am
Enable Biosciences lab assistant Zaochi Tran prepares specimen samples before testing them for the COVID-19 antibody levels on Nov. 5, 2021, in South San Francisco, Calif. Enable Biosciences is designing a new and improved COVID-19 antibody detection test. (Photo by Dai Sugano/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)
(Photo by Dai Sugano/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)
New data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that at least 83% of kids in Washington state have survived a bout of COVID-19.
They know that because they collected data on the number of children and teens with antibodies for COVID-19 already in their bodies.
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The agency extrapolated the data from samples taken from 26,286 children between the ages of 6 months and 17 years.
They were looking for something known as “seroprevalence.” That’s defined as the percentage of people with antibodies against a virus in their blood. The data only measures antibodies from an actual infection and not antibodies produced by vaccination.
The report says this survey “estimates the percentage of children and adolescents with detectable antibodies showing past infection with SARS-CoV-2, but not the total amount of antibody against SARS-CoV-2 in their blood.
And while the 83% figure in Washington is significant, the state’s estimate is lower than the nation as a whole – which measured close to 90%.
And, states surrounding Washington, all had higher percentages of the estimated number of children and teens who have lived through COVID-19 at least one time. The state bordering us with the highest rate is Idaho, at nearly 97% with antibodies.
The CDC says these antibodies would most likely not protect children from contracting one of the new COVID variants.
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