Futurity

What counts as a ‘superspreader’ event?

Face-to-face gatherings up the chance for COVID-19's spread, but which events are "superspreaders" and how can we prevent them? An expert explains.
A man sets up folding chairs on the White House's Rose Garden lawn

What exactly is a COVID-19 “superspreader” event or person? How can these events be prevented? An expert has answers.

“A 10-person birthday celebration or 100-person wedding can all be superspreading events. It only takes a single infected person to infect many.”

After President Donald Trump contracted COVID-19 and 34 people connected to the White House were infected, there is speculation that a Rose Garden ceremony introducing US Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett might have been a coronavirus “superspreader” event.

Here, Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers University School of Public Health, discusses what we know about superspreaders, how infections accelerate, and what we can do to prevent these superspreading events from happening:

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