Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

December 1, 2020

Serologic Testing of U.S. Blood Donations to Identify SARS-CoV-2-Reactive Antibodies: December 2019-January 2020

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Analysis of archived samples from routine Red Cross blood donations collected December 13, 2019 to January 17, 2020 from donors in nine states, including Washington, suggests SARS-CoV-2 was introduced in the US prior to the first identified case in January 19, 2020. Among 7,389 samples, 106 contained antibodies reactive to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and 84 out of 90 available for further testing had neutralizing activity against live SARS-CoV-2. Antibody positive samples were found in all nine states during this period, including 16 from Washington collected in December 2019.

Basavaraju et al. (Nov 30, 2020). Serologic Testing of U.S. Blood Donations to Identify SARS-CoV-2-Reactive Antibodies: December 2019-January 2020. Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa1785