On September 26, numerous high-profile individuals, contracted COVID at a large official White House gathering. This White House “superspreader event” as it was known became something of a case study in how COVID can spread in large groups of people.
Although President Trump contracted the virus, it is not known if this was a result of attending that event. The event, which had over a dozen guests, resulted in 34 individuals including White House staff testing positive for COVID by October 7.
Whilst contact tracing is difficult with COVID, genome sequencing offers a chance for insights into its development and spread. The researchers analysed SARS-CoV-2 genomes from nasal swabs taken from the patients at the White House superspreader event, and analysed it, looking for mutations. They found two variants, WH-2 and WH-2. They determined that these viruses descended from those widely in circulation in Florida, New York, Texas, Connecticut, and Washington – as well as certain countries such as New Zealand.
Source: News-Medical.Net
