America’s best Covid dodgers revealed: Interactive map shows YOUR state’s overall infection rate
A shocking 60 million Americans still haven’t had Covid, according to the results of an official antibody study.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that by the end of 2022, 77.5 percent of people over the age of 16 had antibodies from at least one previous infection.
That suggests that about 58 million Americans, or nearly one in four, were still not infected with the virus at the end of last year β more than three years after the virus first arrived in America.
Of all age groups, seniors with the highest risk of disease were the least likely to be infected: 56.5 percent of those over 65 had natural antibodies.
Young adults and teens had the highest proportion of people with a previous infection, at 87.1 percent of the 16 to 29 age group.
Of the 47 states with data in the CDC dashboard, Vermont β which has a large elderly population β had the lowest prevalence of prior infections at 64.4 percent.
Rounding up the biggest Covid evaders were Maine (65.4 percent), Maryland (66.5 percent), Virginia (69.7 percent), and Oregon (70.2 percent).
Several of these states have larger elderly populations, more likely to mix with fewer people, reducing the risk of contracting the virus.
At the other end of the scale was Iowa with the most residents infected in the US at 90.6 percent.
It was followed by North Dakota (88.5 percent), Oklahoma (86.5 percent), Nevada (85.2 percent), and Indiana (85 percent).
Overall, 96 percent of Americans had antibodies to Covid, the study found β if those from vaccination are included.
The CDC report is based on samples from about 140,000 Americans taken every three months.
Scientists test their blood for two types of antibodies to determine whether someone is immune to an infection or vaccine.
But these diminish over time, which can lead to someone who has had Covid being wrongly marked as not previously infected.
Even when antibodies disappear, other parts of the immune system, such as T cells, remember how to fight the virus if infection reoccurs, so protection is maintained.
Separate CDC data suggests that about 270 million people β or 81 percent of the population β have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine.
About 230 million β or 69.5 percent β received two doses, while 56 million β or 17 percent β also made sure they received the updated bivalent booster vaccine.
The states with the highest percentage of people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine are Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, all at 95 percent.
The CDC has also provided estimates of the percentage of children who have had a Covid infection.
Their data showed that by the end of 2022, just over nine in ten young people under the age of 18 had had the virus.
The above shows the proportion of people in each age group, gender and ethnic group who had antibodies to Covid due to an infection
This chart shows the number of deaths from Covid by state since March 2020. This has now fallen to a record low
The chart above shows Covid hospitalizations in the US since March 2020
It comes as Covid deaths hit another record low in the United States, reaching the lowest level since March 2020.
Figures from the CDC showed that in the week ending June 3, 2023, the last available, there were 624 deaths from the virus.
This is the lowest weekly count since the week to March 21, 2020, when 586 deaths were recorded.
Eleven states recorded no deaths in the past week: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and West Virginia.
Hospital admissions are also at a record low of 6,198 in the week ending June 24, 2023, the lowest since records began.
Respiratory viruses tend to circulate at much lower levels during the summer months, but the data also suggests that many Americans have protection against the virus.