U.S. CDC estimates 1 in 3 Americans infected with COVID-19

People visit a commercial area in Burlingame city in north California, the United States, April 11, 2021. /Xinhua

About 35 percent of all Americans have been infected with COVID-19 over the past year, according to a new study of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

CDC estimates that from February 2020 to March 2021, 114.6 million Americans were infected with COVID-19, 97.1 million had symptomatic illnesses and 5.6 million were hospitalized with COVID-19.

The current U.S. population is about 330 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau website. The number of people who were infected with COVID-19, estimated by the CDC, is about 35 percent of the total U.S. population, or a little more than 1 in 3 people.

Of those infected, nearly 50 percent are between the ages of 18 and 49, and 23 percent are 17 or younger. As for hospitalizations, about 47 percent are estimated to be 65 and older, according to the CDC.

Separately, the U.S. will restrict travel from India starting on May 4, the White House said Friday, citing a devastating rise in COVID-19 cases in the country and the emergence of potentially dangerous variants of the coronavirus.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden's administration made the determination on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high COVID-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in the India," she said.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency