The first phase of the Action to Beat Coronavirus (Ab-C) study in Canada is now complete, including analysis of the blood samples and correlating the lab results with responses to the survey.
Here’s What We Found About the First Wave of Canada’s Coronavirus Pandemic
The bottom line is that about 2% of the samples were positive for COVID-19 antibodies, signaling infection during the first viral wave from April to August 2020.
In most respects, the Angus Reid Forum members who participated are similar in health profile to the overall Canadian population, so 2% is a reasonable estimate for nationwide infection prevalence through September 1, or up to 1 million adult infections.
This places Canada among the lowest national rates early in the pandemic, which ranged from about 1% in Iceland to 9% in the US.
Pairing Lab and Survey Results Produces Some Interesting Findings
People who reported symptoms were likely to have a positive blood antibody test.
About 30% of those with positive blood antibody tests did not report symptoms—suggesting that asymptomatic infections are common.
Here’s How You Can Help
We now know that COVID-19 transmission began to accelerate in Canada—as in much of the world—toward the end of 2020, continuing into 2021. We need your help to continue to track the pandemic!
- If you have been invited to take the Angus Reid online survey on COVID symptoms, please complete it as soon as you can if you haven’t already done so
- If you signed up to get a home sample collection kit but have not yet done the collection, please do so. More instructions can be found here
- Even if you did not sign up the first time for a home sample collection, but would like to this time, we welcome you to join. You may sign up by reaching out directly to the Unity Health team here
Thanks for being part of the fight against COVID.
Sincerely,
The Entire Ab-C Team