Coronavirus Disease Portal|Home|PHGKB

Coronavirus Disease Portal|Home|PHGKB

 Spotlight on COVID-19

Substantial undocumented infection facilitates the rapid dissemination of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)
R Li et al, Science May 1, 2020

Because of their greater numbers, undocumented infections were the source for ~80% of the documented cases. Immediately after travel restrictions were imposed, ~65% of cases were documented. These findings help to explain the lightning-fast spread of this virus around the world.

The effect of human mobility and control measures on the COVID-19 epidemic in China
MUG Kraemer et al, Science, May 1, 2020

Mobility statistics offered a precise record of spread of SARS-CoV-2 at the start of 2020. The frequency of introductions from Wuhan were predictive of the size of the epidemic n other provinces. Once the virus had escaped Wuhan, strict local control measures such as social isolation, rather than travel restrictions, played the largest part in controlling spread.

Public Health Response to the Initiation and Spread of Pandemic COVID-19 in the United States, February 24–April 21, 2020
A Schuchat et al, MMWR, May 1, 2020

Various factors contributed to accelerated spread during February–March 2020, including continued travel-associated importations, large gatherings, introductions into high-risk workplaces and densely populated areas, and cryptic transmission resulting from limited testing and asymptomatic and presymptomatic spread.

SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing for Public Health Emergency Response, Epidemiology, and Surveillance (SPHERES)
CDC, May 1, 2020

This CDC initiative will help monitor important changes in the virus as it continues to circulate, gain important insights to support contact tracing, provide crucial information to aid in identifying diagnostic and therapeutic targets, and advance public health research in the areas of transmission dynamics, host response, and evolution of the virus.