https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/09/the-cluster-effect-how-social-gatherings-were-rocket-fuel-for-coronavirus
Quote:
Each of the countries most heavily hit by the pandemic has reported similar stories of social, cultural or religious gatherings where large numbers spent numerous hours in close company holding hands, kissing, sharing drinks from the same glass which then turbo-charged the spread of the pandemic.
"One pattern we are seeing across the globe is that wherever there was singing and dancing, the virus spread more rapidly," said Prof Hendrik Streeck, a virologist at the University of Bonn whose team of researchers has spent the last week carrying out the first "Covid-19 case cluster study" in Heinsberg.
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"Most infections didn't take place in supermarkets or restaurants," Streeck said of his preliminary findings. In Heinsberg, his team of coronavirus detectives could find scant evidence of the virus being transmitted via the surfaces of door handles, smart phones or other objects.
Early theories that the virus at the carnival party in Gangelt could have been transmitted through the dishwater in the kitchen turned out to be a red herring: most guests drank their beer from bottles.
Instead, he said, transmission took place at "events where people spent a length of time in each others' close company", such as apres ski parties in the Austrian resort of Ischgl, the Trompete nightclub in Berlin and a football match in northern Italy.
"Mass events are a perfect opportunity for the virus, as people meet total strangers," said Niki Popper, a mathematician at Vienna's Technical University whose team has been developing a simulation that could help governments predict the development of the pandemic more accurately.
