Open AccessEmergence of an early SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in the United States
Author(s) -
Mark Zeller,
Karthik Gangavarapu,
Catelyn Anderson,
Allison R. Smither,
John A. Vanchiere,
Rebecca Rose,
Daniel J. Snyder,
Gytis Dudas,
Alexander Watts,
Nathaniel L. Matteson,
Refugio RoblesSikisaka,
Maximilian Marshall,
Amy K. Feehan,
Gilberto SabinoSantos,
Antoinette R. Bell-Kareem,
Laura D. Hughes,
Manar Alkuzweny,
Patricia Snarski,
Julia GarciaDiaz,
Rona S. Scott,
Lilia I. Melnik,
Raphaëlle Klitting,
Michelle McGraw,
Pedro BeldaFerre,
Peter DeHoff,
Shashank Sathe,
Clarisse Marotz,
Nathan D. Grubaugh,
David J. Nolan,
Arnaud Drouin,
Kaylynn J. Genemaras,
Karissa Chao,
Sarah E. Topol,
Emily Spencer,
Laura Nicholson,
Stefan Aigner,
G Yeo,
Lauge Farnaes,
Charlotte A. Hobbs,
Louise C. Laurent,
Rob Knight,
Emma B. Hodcroft,
Kamran Khan,
Dahlene N. Fusco,
Vaughn S. Cooper,
Phillipe Lemey,
Lauren Gardner,
Susanna L. Lamers,
Jeremy P. Kamil,
Robert F. Garry,
Marc A. Suchard,
Kristian G. Andersen
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
cell
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 26.304
H-Index - 776
eISSN - 1097-4172
pISSN - 0092-8674
DOI - 10.1016/j.cell.2021.07.030
Subject(s) - outbreak , covid-19 , transmission (telecommunications) , biology , sars virus , pandemic , scale (ratio) , virology , betacoronavirus , evolutionary biology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , geography , disease , telecommunications , cartography , medicine , pathology , computer science
The emergence of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States (U.S.) went largely undetected due to inadequate testing. New Orleans experienced one of the earliest and fastest accelerating outbreaks, coinciding with Mardi Gras. To gain insight into the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in the U.S. and how large-scale events accelerate transmission, we sequenced SARS-CoV-2 genomes during the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in Louisiana. We show that SARS-CoV-2 in Louisiana had limited diversity compared to other U.S. states and that one introduction of SARS-CoV-2 led to almost all of the early transmission in Louisiana. By analyzing mobility and genomic data, we show that SARS-CoV-2 was already present in New Orleans before Mardi Gras, and the festival dramatically accelerated transmission. Our study provides an understanding of how superspreading during large-scale events played a key role during the early outbreak in the U.S. and can greatly accelerate epidemics.
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