Most hospital patients diagnosed as having COVID-19 contracted the virus from other patients rather than healthcare workers (HCWs), with 21% of patients causing 80% of cases, finds a UK study today in eLife.A team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge analyzed data from five wards at the university's Addenbrooke's Hospital during a COVID-19 outbreak among patients and HCWs from March to June 2020.
The team applied a new network reconstruction algorithm to infer patterns of virus spread among patients and HCWs.'Superspreaders' behind most transmissionOf 38 transmission events studied, 20 were patient-to-patient, 8 were from patient to HCW, 8 were HCW to HCW, and 2 were HCW to patient. "These results suggest that patients were