I took part in this study. This is pretty scary but not unexpected. Shout out to the @KeckMedUSC students and the County Dept. of Public Health phlebotomist for doing an awesome job. https://twitter.com/lapublichealth/status/1252326234077487107

The takeaways appear to be that even adjusting for margin of error, the county has a much higher rate of infection than previously supposed (4%); the fatality rate is thus lower; we are likely at the very early point in terms of the way this pandemic affects LA County.

The preliminary estimate is that about 320K adults out of about 8 million adults in LA County had contracted COVID-19 by April 9. The latest census data puts the total population at around 10 million people, 8 million of whom are adults. Sample size was over 800 adults.

During the press conference (and please read the articles currently being typed by actual reporters about this as we speak) they emphasized that while they looked at demographic breakdown, it's too early to make big conclusions about how the virus works in different groups.

More info here via @CountyofLA https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CALACOUNTY/bulletins/2877402?reqfrom=share

I think it's important to note that @KeckMedUSC and @CountyofLA @lapublichealth seem to have done their best to recruit participants who reflect the (self-identified) age, gender, and racial groups represented within our city.

Oh, and earlier in this thread I said that their early estimate was that 4% of our population had been infected by April 9. In fact, their early estimate is 4.1%. The departments of me, myself and I regret the error. Anyway follow @CountyofLA @lapublichealth for actual info.