Super spreaders

Super spreaders of coronavirus may be among us, experts say. What does that mean?

MARCH 15, 2020

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article241209786.html

Health experts believe the virus does have “super spreaders,” media outlets report.

Earlier in the year, a British man was identified as a super spreader after he was infected with COVID-19, likely while in Singapore, then spread the virus to 11 other people in multiple countries, The Washington Post reported.

More recently, a Biogen conference was held in Boston and is believed to be the source of most of the coronavirus cases in Massachusetts. Of the 138 cases in the state, 104 are linked to the conference, the Boston Globe reports.

The conference appears to be a “super-spreading episode,” Nicholas Christakis, a Yale professor, told WBUR.

But experts still aren’t exactly sure how super spreading works in the coronavirus pandemic.

During the 2003 SARS outbreak, a “super spreader” was classified as someone who directly infected at least 10 people, the CDC says. Five people were identified as such.

Health experts believe a coronavirus patient will directly infect between 1.5 and 3.5 people, CNBC reports, but it’s unclear what the threshold is for someone to be considered a super spreader.

Additionally, there are still a lot of unknowns about how someone becomes a super spreader.

It could have to do with the person’s immune system, the strand of the virus they get or just the places they go, CNBC reports.

The “phenomenon” could be the “result of a combination of host, environment, and virus interactions,” the CDC says.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article241209786.html

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