9 July 2020 - - For the first time since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak appeared in the United States new research from the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research provides a comprehensive analysis of the New York population that sought care from Northwell Health, New York State's largest health system, US-based Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory said.

The study, published July 8 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, leveraged the high degree of technical and data standardization of Northwell Health Laboratories to analyze 46,793 patients who were tested for the virus between March 4 and April 10, 2020. Of those tested, 26,735 or 57.1% of patients revealed a positive diagnosis.

About 30% of those who tested positive for COVID-19 (8,174 people) were hospitalized.

This study provides further evidence that COVID-19 infection was widespread across the greater New York metropolitan area at the time that diagnostic testing became available in early March, and provides detailed demographic and geographic information about persons who were tested during the first five weeks of the outbreak.

The highest positive cases were noted in Queens County (68.5 % of persons tested), Kings County (62.3%), and Bronx County (59.2%). The lowest positive rates were noted for Westchester County (46.4%) and Suffolk County (51.2%).

Dr. Crawford and his team found that males were more likely to be positive for COVID-19 than females, and test positivity rates increased progressively with age.

For both males and females age 25 and under, the estimated regional case incidence by April 10 was well below 1%.

For females age 25 and above, the estimated regional case incidence rose steadily from 1.7% to 2.6% through age 84 and was 4.7% for age 85 and above. For males age 25 and above, estimated regional case incidence rose from 1.6 % at age 25 to 4.4% through age 84 and was 6.0% for age 85 and above.

Northwell's service area includes some of the most diverse neighborhoods in the world. In regard to race, the Black population (both sexes) registered a positivity rate of 67.8% compared with the Asian population (62.3%) and White population (55.5%).

Information was not available for test positivity rates in the Hispanic population. The highest test positivity rates were among Black males (72.1%) and Asian males (71.6%).

The majority of hospital admissions for COVID-19 (7,292 persons) were immediately upon presentation of a symptomatic patient to a hospital emergency room.

However, a small number of persons who tested positive for COVID-19 as outpatients were subsequently admitted to the hospital (882 persons), a median of five days after their test had been performed.

This research was done in collaboration between the Feinstein Institutes and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), with key insights from Partha Mitra, PhD, professor at CSHL.

The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research is the research arm of Northwell Health, the largest health care provider and private employer in New York State.

Home to 50 research labs, 3,000 clinical research studies and 5,000 researchers and staff, the Feinstein Institutes includes institutes of behavioural science, bioelectronic medicine, cancer, health innovations and outcomes, and molecular medicine.