Prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Re:Prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by wbhart on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @03:16PM (#24064434)

I think R0 for the flu is usually take to be in the range 1.4-1.6 and for the common cold, 2-3. It's significant that it is quite a bit over 1, as it wouldn't spread so effectively if not.

It's an exponential factor, so small differences in the value make a big difference.

On the other hand, R0 for SARS-Cov-2 has been estimated as high as 6 by some groups.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_reproduction_number

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Re:Prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by pmarreck on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @03:32PM (#24064603)

I've added more accurate R0 values, with links to source for each, for COVID19, the flu, and the cold, to my original comment:

median R0 for COVID: 5.7

Flu: 1.3

Cold: 1.5

Of course, R0 is a context-sensitive value, so all this is debatable. But I think claiming COVID is 3x as contagious as the other 2 is not that far off the mark.

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