February Boston conference linked to 300,000 COVID-19 cases worldwide
New research revealed a two-day Biogen conference with 175 attendees sparked a widespread coronavirus outbreak.
New research has revealed one east-coast conference resulted in a widespread coronavirus outbreak across the country and the world.
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The Boston Globe reported 175 people attended a February Biogen conference at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf hotel, and within one week, over 99 participants would test positive for COVID-19.
Jacob Lemieux, an infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, and other scientists researched and documented the data.
The Science journal published the study, estimating between 205,000 to 300,000 global cases can be traced back to the two-day event.
“The COVID-19 pandemic had a very direct and personal impact on the Biogen community — as it has on many communities across the country and world,” Biogen said in a statement according to the news outlet.
“Tremendous progress has been made since the start of the pandemic to gain a better understanding of this novel virus and its transmission, develop vaccines, and investigate potential treatment options. As a company rooted in science, we understand the value of the data that came from the first wave of the pandemic in the Boston area and we hope that information gleaned from these data will help continue to drive a better understanding of the transmission of this virus and efforts to address it.”
Once the conference attendees left the event, they traveled to various states and countries, taking the coronavirus with them. The study links 71,540 cases of COVID-19 in Florida to the late winter event.
In total, the numbers average out to the conference being responsible for roughly 1.6 percent of all cases in the United States since the beginning of the pandemic.
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Data researchers identified over 80 distinct SARS-CoV-2 genomes in the Boston area. It was estimated the conference initiated up to 20,000 cases in the Boston area alone.
“If there is a public health message here, it is that the conditions that enable these types of massive super-spreading events to occur are still with us,” said Lemieux, according to the Boston Globe. “They’re still possible if we let our guard down. They’re still possible if infected but otherwise healthy people mingle and travel without restriction.”
According to Boston, the city experienced a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases following the Thanksgiving holiday after a short period of decline.
“Listen, the numbers are going to go up,” said Mayor Marty Walsh said to the news outlet. “We’re going to see numbers … for the next week going up. Now the choice is as the numbers increase, do we want to keep the number increasing to a smaller number, meaning that [we’re] not spreading the virus? So anyone that traveled during Thanksgiving, you should get tested before you go around anybody.”
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