Abstract
It is generally agreed that striking a balance between resuming economic and social activities and keeping the effective reproductive number (R0) below 1 using non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important goal until and even after effective vaccines become available. Therefore, the need remains to understand how the virus is transmitted in order to identify high-risk environments and activities that disproportionately contribute to its spread so that effective preventative measures could be put in place. Contact tracing and household studies in particular provide robust evidence about the parameters of transmission. In this viewpoint, we discuss the available evidence from large-scale, well-conducted contact tracing studies from across the world and argue that SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics should inform policy decisions about mitigation strategies for targeted interventions according to the needs of the society by directing attention to the settings, activities and socioeconomic factors associated with the highest risks of transmission.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Clinical Infectious Diseases |
| Early online date | 23 Sept 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 23 Sept 2020 |
Keywords
- COVID-19
- Coronavirus
- SARS-CoV-2
- Novel coronavirus
- Transmission
Access to Document
- Cevik_2020_CID_SARS-CoV2_AAM
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa1442.