20,000 COVID-19 Cases Being Linked to One Event in Boston

These are some crazy numbers.

Research now indicates that a Biotech event that took place in Boston has led to 20,000 Coronavirus cases.

CNN is reporting that the conference was only attended by about 200 people at the end of February, but research is now showing it was a "superspreading event".

So, what exactly is that?  CNN says:

"Superspreading occurs when one or a few infected people cause a cascade of transmissions of an infectious disease."

According to the article, about 90 confirmed cases of Covid were reported from the 200 attendees.

Bronwyn MacInnis, a researcher at the Broad Institute, tells CNN:

"Many factors made the conference an unfortunate perfect storm as a superspreading event. That the virus was introduced at the conference at all was unlucky,"

MacInnis was part of a new study done on Coronavirus cases.  She said that because people attended from all over and then went back home, the spread was much greater.

She also added that if the number seems to be high, there is a reason:

"it is important to point out that it is in context of a pandemic that has infected tens of millions of people."

"We were adhering closely to the prevailing official guidelines. We never would have knowingly put anyone at risk. When we learned a number of our colleagues were ill, we did not know the cause was COVID-19, but we immediately notified public health authorities and took steps to limit the spread."