Hundreds or even thousands of corona infections within a very short period of time – so-called “super spreader events” – can have a major impact on the increase in new infections and the course of the pandemic. Especially if it is discovered too late or not at all that one or more infected people came into contact with many other people at events.
One such event could have been a biotech conference in Boston in late February. This is what researchers report in a previously published study. The scientists assume that around 20,000 corona infections can be traced back to the international conference.
The event, which took place from February 26 to 27, was attended by around 200 people – more than 90 people who were directly or through contacts with the conference were infected with the coronavirus. This arouses the suspicion that “an overarching event has taken place”, the researchers wrote in their publication. The study has not yet been independently reviewed by specialist colleagues, but has been published in advance at “medrxiv.org”.
For the study, researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University in Cambridge had genetically examined corona samples from the US state of Massachusetts.
Researcher: The event was a “perfect storm”
The researchers analyzed 772 complete genomes of the coronavirus from the region. They found that viruses associated with the event and its subsequent spread contained the genetic variant “C2416T”. It is possible that this variant was already disseminated in the run-up to the conference. But they have no evidence for this, write the researchers.
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The scientists then estimated that around 20,000 cases in the counties of Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex and Norfolk in the state of Massachusetts alone could be traced back to the event. It cannot be ruled out that this genetic variant may have spread parallel to the event. But “the largest part” can be traced back to the conference, according to the study.
The conference was a “perfect storm”, quoted the US news channel CNN, the researcher Bronwyn MacInnis, who collaborated on the study. “As an overarching event, many factors made the conference an unfortunate perfect storm. The fact that the virus was introduced at the conference was unfortunate, ”MacInnis told CNN in writing.
Event took place at an inopportune time
Because at the time of the event one was not yet aware of the risk of the pandemic. If the event had taken place a week later, it would probably have been canceled, the researcher continued. Extensive test capacities, social distancing and wearing masks were not yet the norm at that time. That promoted the spread.
The scientists did not mention the event by name in the study. According to the daily newspaper “The Boston Globe”, the conference was an international meeting of executives from the biotechnology company Biogen at the Marriott Long Wharf hotel in Boston.
In a statement by the company Biogen, which CNN quotes, it is said that they “followed the applicable official guidelines”. When several diseases became known, the health authorities were informed.
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In addition, the researchers found that the corona outbreak at the conference also affected a care facility and a homeless shelter where the virus was spreading. “Our results repeatedly underline the close relationships between apparently separate populations,” the researchers concluded.
According to the results of the study, around 15 percent of the total confirmed corona cases in Massachusetts could be due to the conference. John Hopkins University recorded 126,420 infections for the US state on Wednesday. 8961 people died of or in connection with Covid-19.
The USA is the country most affected by the corona pandemic in the world. Overall, the United States has around 5.7 million corona cases. US President Donald Trump is accused of having reacted too late to the spread of the virus.
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