Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
From 99 to 20,000: Superspreading Biogen Conference Likely Source Of Far More Cases Than Previously Estimated
Boston Globe: Biogen Conference Likely Led To 20,000 COVID-19 Cases In Boston Area, Researchers Say
An international meeting of Biogen leaders at a Boston hotel in February led to roughly 20,000 cases of COVID-19 in four Massachusetts counties by early May, far more than the 99 previously identified, according to three scientists involved in a new study. After examining nearly all the confirmed early cases of the illness in the area by changes in the genetic makeup of coronaviruses as they pass from one person to another, the researchers were able to assess the broader impact of the “super-spreading event” at the Marriott Long Wharf hotel. (Saltzman, 8/25)
The Washington Post: How A Single Superspreading Event Sent Coronavirus Across Massachusetts And The World
None of the biotech executives at the meeting noticed the uninvited guest. They had flown to Boston from across the globe for the annual leadership meeting of the drug company Biogen, and they were busy catching up with colleagues and hobnobbing with upper management. For two days they shook hands, kissed cheeks, passed each other the salad tongs at the hotel buffet, never realizing that one among their number carried the coronavirus in their lungs.By the meeting’s end on Feb. 27, the infection had infiltrated many more people: a research director, a photographer, the general manager for the company’s east division. They took the virus home with them to the Boston suburbs, Indiana and North Carolina, to Slovakia, Australia and Singapore. (Kaplan and Mooney, 8/25)
WBUR: Genetic 'Fingerprints' Suggest Superspreader Biogen Conference Seeded 40% Of Boston Coronavirus Cases
Overall, the data suggests the event led to 40% of all COVID-19 infections in the Boston area as of July 1, says Bronwyn MacInnis, a viral genomicist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the senior author of a new, pre-publication study that attempts to trace the viral descendants of that outbreak. That translates to tens of thousands of cases. “It seems pretty clear that the spread that initiated in the context of the conference went beyond certainly that event and beyond the city and reached populations across the U.S. and in various corners of the world,” she says. (Chen, 8/25)
CNN: Experts Feared The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Could Be A Superspreading Event. More Than 70 Coronavirus Cases Are Already Linked To It
More than 70 Covid-19 cases have now been linked to an event that drew thousands of tourists to a small South Dakota city earlier this month, CNN surveys of state health departments show. The annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is a 10-day event that usually brings about 500,00 people to the city. This year, the rally attracted attendees on more than 460,000 vehicles, according to the state's transportation department. Experts feared the rally, which drew people from all over the United States -- including coronavirus hotspots -- had the potential to become to become a spreading event, not just in the state but across the country. (Maxouris, 8/26)
In related COVID news —
NPR: Why The Coronavirus Is So 'Superspready'
A person with a high viral load walks into a bar. That, according to researchers who study the novel coronavirus, is a recipe for a superspreading event — where one person or gathering leads to an unusually high number of new infections. And that kind of occurrence is increasingly considered a hallmark of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. "There are some really good estimates out there that suggest that between 10% and 20% of cases are responsible for about 80% of transmission events," said Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Program, at a press conference on Aug. 10. (Huang, 8/25)
CIDRAP: COVID-19 Spread Noted In 'Healthy' Concertgoers 2 Days After Infection
Seemingly healthy people with COVID-19 can spread the disease to others as soon as 2 days after infection, an analysis of a coronavirus cluster traced to four live music clubs in Osaka, Japan, shows. The study, published today in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, extracted data on club-goers linked to an 108-person cluster from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare website. The first case in the cluster was identified on Feb 27, and the outbreak was contained by Mar 17. (8/25)
