Abstract
Background: In March 2020, the greater New York metropolitan area became an epicenter for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The initial evolution of case incidence has not been well characterized.
Methods: Northwell Health Laboratories tested 46 793 persons for SARS-CoV-2 from 4 March through 10 April. The primary outcome measure was a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test for SARS-CoV-2. The secondary outcomes included patient age, sex, and race, if stated; dates the specimen was obtained and the test result; clinical practice site sources; geolocation of patient residence; and hospitalization.
Results: From 8 March through 10 April, a total of 26 735 of 46 793 persons (57.1%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Males of each race were disproportionally more affected than females above age 25, with a progressive male predominance as age increased. Of the positive persons, 7292 were hospitalized directly upon presentation; an additional 882 persons tested positive in an ambulatory setting before subsequent hospitalization, a median of 4.8 days later. Total hospitalization rate was thus 8174 persons (30.6% of positive persons). There was a broad range (>10-fold) in the cumulative number of positive cases across individual zip codes following documented first caseincidence. Test positivity was greater for persons living in zip codes with lower annual household income.
Conclusions: Our data reveal that SARS-CoV-2 incidence emerged rapidly and almost simultaneously across a broad demographic population in the region. These findings support the premise that SARS-CoV-2 infection was widely distributed prior to virus testing availability.
Keywords: coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); hospitalization; race; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); socioeconomic.
【저자키워드】 Hospitalization, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), race, socioeconomic, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus disease, Evolution, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, Hospitalized, SARS-COV-2 infection, Infection, Test, Sex, virus, male, female, Patient, age, incidence, New York, Clinical practice, Support, acute respiratory syndrome, specimen, primary outcome measure, secondary outcome, cumulative, positive, initial, greater, tested, affected, subsequent, median, characterized, Total, was obtained, 【제목키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, emergence, Rapid, New York, geolocation, Person,