06/07/2020

A Few Superspreaders Transmit the Majority of COVID-19 Cases

Epidemiologists call some people “superspreaders"

Early in the outbreak, researchers estimated that a person carrying SARS-CoV-2 would, on average, infect another two to three people. More recent studies have argued, however, that this number may actually be higher.

As early as January, though, there were reports out of Wuhan, China, of a single patient who infected 14 healthcare workers. That qualifies him as a superspreader: someone who is responsible for infecting an especially large number of other people.

Since then, epidemiologists have tracked a number of other instances of SARS-CoV-2 superspreading. In South Korea, around 40 people who attended a single church service were infected at the same time. At a choir practice of 61 people in Washington State, 32 attendees contracted confirmed COVID-19 and 20 more came down with probable cases. In Chicago, before social distancing was in place, one person that attended a dinner, a funeral, and then a birthday party was responsible for 15 new infections.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.