Isn’t COVID-19 just like the flu??
No, no it’s not.
I like numbers, so let’s look at numbers…
If I have the flu, I am likely to transmit it to about 1.3 or 1.4 people. That’s called the basic reproduction rate (also known as R0). Those 1.3 people I give it to, will also pass it on to 1.3 people, and so on. After ten levels of passing it on, I will have been responsible for 14 people being sick.
A recent study published compared basic reproduction rates from 12 other studies that were published. They found the R0 was a median of 2.79, and an average of 3.28.
Once we go ten-levels deep with these basic reproduction rates, instead of infecting 14 people (like the flu), I will have passed my sickness on to somewhere around 28,578 people (with the R0 rate of 2.79) to 144,124 (with the R0 rate of 3.28).
14 vs. (28,578 to 144,124)
That’s not the “just the flu”…
Please stay home, and stop the spread!
(R0 figures taken from https://academic.oup.com/jtm/article/27/2/taaa021/5735319)
