COVID-19 Exposure in Urban and Rural Areas

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has majorly impacted the lives of people living in different living environments, such as large cities or small towns. However, there is limited knowledge about the difference in infection prevalence between urban and rural populations. To examine these differences, this study examined SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels in blood serum from 36 unvaccinated subjects of urban and rural backgrounds with no self-reported history of COVID-19 infection. Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA) detected the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the subjects’ blood. IgG and IgM assays were used to distinguish between prior (recovered) and more recent infections, respectively. A t-test was conducted to identify a statistically significant difference, or lack thereof, between the antibody levels detected in urban and rural participants. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the two experimental groups for both IgG and IgM (p = 0.09, 0.93, respectively), although the p-value for IgG was low enough to be notable. Overall, this study suggests that there is no major difference between urban and rural environments that impact susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection, although more research with a greater sample size should be conducted.