It is starting to get redundant. I recently reported on a study by CDC indicating that 10 times more people may have caught COVID-19 than previously thought. If this true, then according to the authors this means the death rate for the Coronavirus is significantly below 1% putting it into a ‘severe seasonal flu’ category.

But now researchers at Penn State believe that it could be significantly higher, maybe closer to 80 times more.

Study Finds reports:

It’s already widely speculated by medical professionals and pundits alike that the initial U.S. coronavirus infection rate was grossly undercounted. Now, a new study concludes that the country’s infection rate early on may have been over 80 times greater than originally reported. Moreover, infections across the U.S. likely doubled almost twice as fast as initially estimated.


How did this happen? In all likelihood there isn’t one main culprit, researchers believe. Instead, a combination of a lack of tests, asymptomatic carriers, and people not recognizing their own symptoms may be to blame.

Now to be fair this is based on an analysis of data during a three-week period in March when the disease was just gaining ground in the US. Based on their study, the Penn State researchers believed there could have been upwards of 8.7 million cases of COVID in the US in March, instead of the 100,000 reported at the time.

If nothing else, it confirms the CDC study that ranked COVID’s death rate as a “severe seasonal flu.”

But if ten times more cases drops the death rate to significantly below 1%, how much would the death rate drop if you add say 80 times more cases of COVID?

READ: Study: Initial U.S. COVID-19 infection rate may be 80 times greater than believed

QUICK QUESTION: Should we be expecting a full lockdown when the common cold hits next fall?