Cited by 2,611COVID-19 epidemiological studiesSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchMathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models

Projecting the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 through the postpandemic period

Open access
Kissler, Stephen M., Tedijanto, Christine, Goldstein, Edward, Grad, Yonatan H., Lipsitch, Marc·2020·Science

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

What happens next?: Four months into the severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak, we still do not know enough about postrecovery immune protection and environmental and seasonal influences on transmission to predict transmission dynamics accurately. However, we do know that humans are seasonally afflicted by other, less severe coronaviruses. Kissler et al. used existing data to build a deterministic model of multiyear interactions between existing coronaviruses, with a focus on the United States, and used this to project the potential epidemic dynamics and pressures on critical care capacity over the next 5 years. The long-term dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 strongly depends on immune responses and immune cross-reactions between the coronaviruses, as well as the timing of introduction of the new virus into a population. One scenario is that a resurgence in SARS-CoV-2 could occur as far into the future as 2025. Science , this issue p. 860

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Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • COVID-19 is an endemic.

    “Now that there is unanimity that COVID-19 is an endemic (BBC, 2020b; Kissler et al., 2020)”

    From Understanding coronaphobia (2020) · cites this paper as Kissler et al., 2020

    In “If immunity to SARS-CoV-2 is not permanent, it will likely enter into regular circulation” (page not provided), the paper models long-term circulation as one possible outcome. It does not say COVID-19 was already endemic or that there was unanimity on the matter; it also models elimination under long-term immunity. (LLM, conf=0.90)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • A sensitivity analysis with a seasonal component such that transmission is 20% higher in winter than in summer did not qualitatively affect the results.

    “As a sensitivity analysis, we also ran model projections with a seasonal component such that transmission is 20% higher in winter than in summer (22), but this did not qualitatively affect our results (fig. S24 and table S5).”

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [18]Wu Z., McGoogan J. M., Characteristics of and important lessons from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China: Summary of a report of 72 314 cases from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. JAMA 323, 1239 (2020). 10.1001/jama.2020.2648 32091533 · DOI · Paper page
  2. [43]C. M. Peak, R. Kahn, Y. H. Grad, L. M. Childs, R. Li, M. Lipsitch, C. O. Buckee, Modeling the comparative impact of individual quarantine vs. active monitoring of contacts for the mitigation of COVID-19. medRxiv 10.1101/2020.03.05.20031088 [Preprint]. 8 March 2020;. 10.1101/2020.03.05.20031088 · DOI
  3. [45]Huang K. E., Lipsitch M., Shaman J., Goldstein E., The US 2009 A(H1N1) influenza epidemic: Quantifying the impact of school openings on the reproductive number. Epidemiology 25, 203– 206 (2014). 10.1097/EDE.0000000000000055 24434751 PMC3960948 · DOI

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Authors
Kissler, S. M., Tedijanto, C., Goldstein, E., Grad, Y. H., & Lipsitch, M.
Affiliations
Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author
Lipsitch, Marc
Venue
Science
Published
2020-05-22
Volume
368
Issue
6493
Pages
860-868
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W3015988827
Cited by
2,611
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 55 · 2025: 76 · 2024: 102 · 2023: 180 · 2022: 361 · 2021: 840 · 2020: 991 · 2019: 3 · 2012: 1
FWCI
94.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U54GM088558)
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (T32AI007535)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › COVID-19 epidemiological studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2 transmission, seasonal transmission, social distancing, critical care capacity, herd immunity, duration of immunity, cross-immunity, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-HKU1, COVID-19 resurgence, serological surveillance
MeSH terms
Betacoronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Disease Outbreaks, Humans, Models, Biological, Pneumonia, Viral, Seasons, Coronavirus Infections, Disease Transmission, Infectious, Coronavirus OC43, Human, Pandemics

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