PONE-D-21-30543State-wide random seroprevalence survey of SARS-CoV-2 past infection in a southern US State, 2020PLOS ONE

Dear Prof Dr. Cardenas,

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The manuscript in the present form demands a revision before it can be published, so we suggests a “minor revision” of the paper

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Kind regards,

Maemu Petronella Gededzha, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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The work was supported through a research contract agreement with the Arkansas Department of Health with funding from the 2020 Coronavirus Relief Fund - CARES Act (VMC, LAF and LJ -PIs of record) and by grant UL1 TR003107 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) (LJ -PI).

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The work was supported through a research contract agreement with the Arkansas Department of Health with funding from the 2020 Coronavirus Relief Fund - CARES Act and by grant UL1 TR003107 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). 

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Please remove any funding-related text from the manuscript and let us know how you would like to update your Funding Statement. Currently, your Funding Statement reads as follows: 

The work was supported through a research contract agreement with the Arkansas Department of Health with funding from the 2020 Coronavirus Relief Fund - CARES Act (VMC, LAF and LJ -PIs of record) and by grant UL1 TR003107 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) (LJ -PI).

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4. One of the noted authors is a group or consortium Arkansas Coronavirus Antibodies Seroprevalence Survey . In addition to naming the author group, please list the individual authors and affiliations within this group in the acknowledgments section of your manuscript. Please also indicate clearly a lead author for this group along with a contact email address.’  

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4. On the data availability the author mentioned that some restrictions will apply, however they did not specify which restrictions and why?

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6. Introduction-Sentence no 3, SARS-Cov-2 should be changed to SARS-CoV-2

7. Materials and method-Sentence ‘A random sample of the target was obtained as follows. Should’ read ‘A random sample of the target was obtained as follows:’

8. Be consistent with the use of sex vs gender through-out the manuscript.

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10. Page 12-remove Fig 1. Caption.

11. Reviewers 2 comments are indicated in the PDF document attached.

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: This study focused on estimating the number of Arkansans residents infected with SARS-CoV-2 between May and December 2020 and also to assess the determinants of infection. This was carried out by surveying the seroprevalence of, a statewide population-based random-digit dial sample of non-institutionalized adults in Arkansas. The outcome was past Covid-19 infection measured by serum antibody test . Notably, the seropositivity was significantly elevated among non-Hispanic black , Hispanic and

The method on how All sera were tested for IgG antibodies that target receptor binding domain of the spike protein of the SARS CoV-2 using the Beckman Coulter DxI instrument should be explained.

Major issues:

Overall, the data is promising, but the novelty of this study is relatively weak because the outcomes of the results obtained is not clearly explained.

Minor issues:

1. The introduction section needs to be worked on and be improved for example

Of these, only seven used random sampling procedures so that every person in the target population had “a known, non-zero probability of being included in the sample

A comma interferes with the flow.

The data obtained in this work are of interest for infectious disease specialists. The research was carried out using adequate methods and the manuscript may be published.

Reviewer #2: This was an important study and authors conducted it well.

Agreeing with the study's limitation of not including children. The study should have included children as they also play a crucial role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infections; and it would have been nice to also learn if factors oberved in adults were also similar to those of children.

Authors should pay more attention to their references, consistency should be applied.

Manuscript should be checked for editorials and should also be checked by an English expect.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Reviewer.pdf

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-21-30543 (1)_Plos One.pdf

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Submitted filename: Authorship statement (2).docx

State-wide random seroprevalence survey of SARS-CoV-2 past infection in a southern US State, 2020

PONE-D-21-30543R1

Dear Dr. Cardenas

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Maemu Petronella Gededzha, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #2: I am pleased with the responses to the questions, and with the final document. I am recommending the manuscript accepted for publication.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #2: No