SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) by the numbers
- The Weizmann Institute for Science, Israel
- University of California, Berkeley, United States
- California Institute of Technology, United States
Abstract
The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is a harsh reminder of the fact that, whether in a single human host or a wave of infection across continents, viral dynamics is often a story about the numbers. In this snapshot, our aim is to provide a one-stop, curated graphical source for the key numbers that help us understand the virus driving our current global crisis. The discussion is framed around two broad themes: 1) the biology of the virus itself and 2) the characteristics of the infection of a single human host. Our one-page summary provides the key numbers pertaining to SARS-CoV-2, based mostly on peer-reviewed literature. The numbers reported in summary format are substantiated by the annotated references below. Readers are urged to remember that much uncertainty remains and knowledge of this pandemic and the virus driving it is rapidly evolving. In the paragraphs below we provide 'back of the envelope' calculations that exemplify the insights that can be gained from knowing some key numbers and using quantitative logic. These calculations serve to improve our intuition through sanity checks, but do not replace detailed epidemiological analysis.
Data availability
This article is a compilation of previously published data; no new data were generated in this study.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institutes of Health (1R35 GM118043-01 (Maximizing Investigators Research Award))
- Rob Phillips
Charles and Louise Gartner professional chair
- Ron Milo
Azrieli Fellow
- Yinon M Bar-On
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2020, Bar-On et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) by the numbers
eLife 9:e57309.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.57309
