Large-scale studies of the general population are needed in order to determine how wide the disease has spread, how deadly the virus really is, and whether enough of the population has become immune for social distancing restrictions to ease.

Several survey results from Germany, the Netherlands, the US, and Switzerland find that anywhere from 2% to 30% of certain populations have already been infected with COVID-19. Yet these results have been heavily criticized as too preliminary, with larger-scale studies required to draw any sort of conclusions.