By Sarah Westall | Business Game Changers

CoVid 19 is much more contagious than what was originally reported according to a recent study put out by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Theoretical Biology and Biophysics, Theoretical Division,

Here is the study overview/Abstract

The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is a recently emerged human pathogen that has spread widely since January 2020. Initially, the basic reproductive number, R 0 , was estimated to be 2.2 to 2.7. Here we provide a new estimate of this quantity. We collected extensive individual case reports and estimated key epidemiology parameters, including the incubation period. Integrating these estimates and high-resolution real-time human travel and infection data with mathematical models, we estimated that the number of infected individuals during early epidemic double every 2.4 days, and the R 0 value is likely to be between 4.7 and 6.6. We further show that quarantine and contact tracing of symptomatic individuals alone may not be effective and early, strong control measures are needed to stop transmission of the virus.

What does R 0 mean?

R 0 is pronounced “R naught.” It’s a mathematical term that indicates how contagious an

infectious disease is. It’s also referred to as the reproduction number. As an infection spreads to new people, it reproduces itself.

R 0 tells you the average number of people who will catch a disease from one contagious person. It specifically applies to a population of people who were previously free of infection and haven’t been vaccinated. If a disease has an R 0 of 18, a person who has the disease will transmit it to an average of 18 other people, as long as no one has been vaccinated against it or is already immune to it in their community.

Read the full study…