Researchers in San Diego are using genome sequencing to track the spread of SARS-CoV-2 there, NBC 7 San Diego reports.
A team from the Scripps Research and the University of California, San Diego, has received $2.5 million in funding from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to analyze leftover nasal swab samples from individuals in the region who tested positive for COVID-19, it adds. The goal, NBC 7 San Diego notes, is to track how the virus has been transmitted.
Of particular interest, the San Diego Union-Tribune adds, is the role of super-spreader events in the transmission of COVID-19. "Really early on, San Diego was characterized by a lot of individual transmission changes, none of them very successful. These are examples of the virus coming in, stuttering a little bit in the community, and then dying out," Scripps' Kristian Andersen, who is heading the effort, tells it. "Now we're seeing much more evidence of stuff that could be superspreading."