--- title: CDC Says Coronavirus Cases Might be 10 Times What Data Show description: The head of the CDC said on a June 25 press call that the estimate is based on antibody testing, which have found more asymptotic cases. canonical: https://time.com/5859790/cdc-coronavirus-estimates/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-06-25T19:17:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:52:03.464Z article:section: Health og:title: CDC Says Head Estimates U.S. Cases Might be 10 Times Higher Than Data Shows og:description: The head of the CDC said on a June 25 press call that the estimate is based on antibody testing, which have found more asymptotic cases. og:url: https://time.com/5859790/cdc-coronavirus-estimates/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5662cf600d2c462e/698a0df94ee26222d9317790/cdc-guidance-more-restrictive-than-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4303 og:image:height: 2420 og:image:alt: cdc-guidance-more-restrictive-than-white-house og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CDC Says Head Estimates U.S. Cases Might be 10 Times Higher Than Data Shows twitter:description: The head of the CDC said on a June 25 press call that the estimate is based on antibody testing, which have found more asymptotic cases. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5662cf600d2c462e/698a0df94ee26222d9317790/cdc-guidance-more-restrictive-than-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CDC Head Estimates U.S. Coronavirus Cases Might be 10 Times Higher Than Data Show > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Dr. Anthony Fauci Tells Lawmakers He Is Cautiously Optimistic There Will Be a COVID-19 Vaccine by Late 2020 or Early 2021 [Watch (HLS stream): Dr. Anthony Fauci Tells Lawmakers He Is Cautiously Optimistic There Will Be a COVID-19 Vaccine by Late 2020 or Early 2021](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jZTE7vVI.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2020-06-23. Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday he is cautiously optimistic there will be a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year or early 2021, but warned that the next few weeks will be critical to tamping down coronavirus hot spots around the country._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jun 25, 2020 7:17 PM UTC  Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on April 22, 2020. Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on April 22, 2020. Alex Brandon—AP  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jun 25, 2020 7:17 PM UTC In a press briefing on June 25, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that the current official count of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. may actually be a drastic underestimate. Redfield said the new, much-higher estimate, is based on growing data from antibody testing, which picks up the presence of immune cells that react to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19\. People will test positive for antibodies to the virus if they have been infected—whether or not they ever got sick or even developed symptoms. Previously, testing was focused only on those with symptoms. But because so many who become infected with SARS-CoV-2 could either have mild disease or not know they were infected at all, Redfield said, current information on the burden of cases is an underestimate. “The traditional approach of looking for symptomatic illness, and diagnoses obviously under estimated the total number of infections,” Redfield said. “Now that serology tests are available, which test for antibodies, the estimates we have right now show about 10 times more people have antibodies in the jurisdictions tested than had documented infections.” That fact may also be contributing to the recent [downward trend in the average age of people being diagnosed](https://time.com/5858593/younger-people-covid-19/), since, as Redfield noted, those people were likely not being diagnosed in the past—younger people are less likely to experience the severe symptoms that bring them to the attention of the health care system, where the early cases were documented. Now that testing is more widely available in the community, it’s becoming clear that more people are currently infected or have recovered from COVID-19 than was previously believed. On the press call, the CDC also announced changes to its definitions of [people at high risk of COVID-19](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/index.html); it now includes those with asthma, dementia and a history of stroke, as well as people who are [pregnant](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6925a1.htm?s%5Fcid=mm6925a1%5Fw). The absolute risk of infection for these groups is still low, but compared to those without these conditions, the risk is worth noting. Based on new data, the CDC also updated its [list of underlying medical conditions](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html?CDC%5FAA%5FrefVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fneed-extra-precautions%2Fgroups-at-higher-risk.html) that could make people more vulnerable to COVID-19 to now include obesity and type 2 diabetes, conditions that are both common in the U.S. population, including among younger people. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5859790/cdc-coronavirus-estimates/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5859790/cdc-coronavirus-estimates/"},"headline":"CDC Head Estimates U.S. Coronavirus Cases Might be 10 Times Higher Than Data Show","datePublished":"2020-06-25T19:17:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:52:03.464Z","description":"The estimate is based on wider testing for antibodies, which detect people who have been infected","url":"https://time.com/5859790/cdc-coronavirus-estimates/","keywords":["COVID-19"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5662cf600d2c462e/698a0df94ee26222d9317790/cdc-guidance-more-restrictive-than-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5662cf600d2c462e/698a0df94ee26222d9317790/cdc-guidance-more-restrictive-than-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"cdc-guidance-more-restrictive-than-white-house","caption":"Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on April 22, 2020.","creditText":"Alex Brandon—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5859790/cdc-coronavirus-estimates/","name":"CDC Head Estimates U.S. Coronavirus Cases Might be 10 Times Higher Than Data Show"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Dr. Anthony Fauci Tells Lawmakers He Is Cautiously Optimistic There Will Be a COVID-19 Vaccine by Late 2020 or Early 2021","description":"Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday he is cautiously optimistic there will be a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year or early 2021, but warned that the next few weeks will be critical to tamping down coronavirus hot spots around the country.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jZTE7vVI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-06-23T18:39:10.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jZTE7vVI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5859790/cdc-coronavirus-estimates/","duration":"PT1M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5859790/cdc-coronavirus-estimates/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```