Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

May 18, 2021

Size and Duration of COVID-19 Clusters Go along with a High SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load: A Spatio-Temporal Investigation in Vaud State, Switzerland

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  • Clustering of SARS-CoV-2 cases in Switzerland from January to June 2020 by region and date of diagnosis found that of the 457 clusters with significantly higher risk of infection compared to the surrounding region, 57% had at least one person with extremely high viral load (>1 billion copies/mL). Clusters with the highest viral loads tended to have lower average age groups. 20 clusters had viral loads <100,000 copies/mL among the first three cases, suggesting that individuals may be infectious even if their viral load is below that threshold.

Ladoy et al. (May 15, 2021). Size and Duration of COVID-19 Clusters Go along with a High SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load: A Spatio-Temporal Investigation in Vaud State, Switzerland. Science of The Total Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147483