• Heather F Gidding, Dorothy A Machalek, Alexandra J Hendry, Helen E Quinn, Kaitlyn Vette, Frank H Beard, Hannah S Shilling, Rena Hirani, Iain B Gosbell, David O Irving, Linda Hueston, Marnie Downes, John B Carlin, Matthew Vn O'Sullivan, Dominic E Dwyer, John M Kaldor, and Kristine Macartney.
• National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW.
• Med. J. Aust. 2021 Mar 1; 214 (4): 179185179-185.

ObjectivesTo estimate SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody seroprevalence after the first epidemic wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Sydney.Setting, ParticipantsPeople of any age who had provided blood for testing at selected diagnostic pathology services (general pathology); pregnant women aged 20-39 years who had received routine antenatal screening; and Australian Red Cross Lifeblood plasmapheresis donors aged 20-69 years.DesignCross-sectional study; testing of de-identified residual blood specimens collected during 20 April - 2 June 2020.Main Outcome MeasureEstimated proportions of people seropositive for anti-SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG, adjusted for test sensitivity and specificity.ResultsThirty-eight of 5339 specimens were IgG-positive (general pathology, 19 of 3231; antenatal screening, 7 of 560; plasmapheresis donors, 12 of 1548); there were no clear patterns by age group, sex, or location of residence. Adjusted estimated seroprevalence among people who had had general pathology blood tests (all ages) was 0.15% (95% credible interval [CrI], 0.04-0.41%), and 0.29% (95% CrI, 0.04-0.75%) for plasmapheresis donors (20-69 years). Among 20-39-year-old people, the age group common to all three collection groups, adjusted estimated seroprevalence was 0.24% (95% CrI, 0.04-0.80%) for the general pathology group, 0.79% (95% CrI, 0.04-1.88%) for the antenatal screening group, and 0.69% (95% CrI, 0.04-1.59%) for plasmapheresis donors.ConclusionsEstimated SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence was below 1%, indicating that community transmission was low during the first COVID-19 epidemic wave in Sydney. These findings suggest that early control of the spread of COVID-19 was successful, but efforts to reduce further transmission remain important.© 2021 AMPCo Pty Ltd.

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