A preliminary report on an antibody study of Utahns shows that COVID-19 was probably introduced to Utah in February and very few Utahns have been exposed to the virus.
Both findings suggest Utahns need to remain cautious.
"I would have argued and argued and argued with an individual that a lot more people in Utah would have been exposed and I was completely wrong and I'll be the first one to admit that," said Dr. Josh Redd a Chiropractic Physician with Red River Health and Wellness.
Among the report’s findings:
- "Of 724 individuals who suspected they had Covid-19 symptoms between October 2019 and January 2020, none tested positive..."
- "Of 1,253 asymptomatic individuals who reported no previous symptoms of Covid-19, 5 (.40%) tested positive for Sars-Cov-2 IgG."
- "The earliest positive case we identified was an individual who presented with clinical symptoms of Covid-19 on February 15, 2020 in Logan, Utah."
Redd also noted that some of the patients developed ongoing autoimmune symptoms after they had recovered from the normal course of the virus.
Red River Health and Wellness used the Abbot Architect Assay (test) by Fisher Scientific. They say they evaluated several options and found it to be the most sensitive and specific with the lowest level of false positives. They tested 2,784 individuals, using extensive questionnaires and interviews which Redd says they will use to compile more results.