February 2, 2021

High Variability in Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within Households and Implications for Control

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Transmission

Keywords (Tags): transmission

[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] A probabilistic model based upon SARS-CoV-2 antibody and PCR test data from more than 9000 Utah households estimated a 35% household secondary attack rate. In contrast, the crude estimate for household attack rate unadjusted for serological test specificity was 15%. Given the high attack rate, the authors predict that the mean non-household transmissions per case must be <0.4 to avoid continued growth of the Utah epidemic. High variability in household transmission was also observed, which the authors suggest is consistent with transmission being driven by a few superspreading individuals.

Toth et al. (Feb 1, 2021). High Variability in Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within Households and Implications for Control. Pre-print downloaded Feb 2 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.29.20248797