Gathering of International Biotech Leaders Likely Resulted in 20,000 COVID-19 Cases in Boston

Researchers have recently linked a "viral forest fire" in Boston to a single conference participated by international biotech leaders held in February. This is according to a report from The Boston Globe.

Initially, the news agency reported, researchers attributed 99 COVID-19 cases in the area to a gathering of biotech leaders from different parts of the world who participated in the annual conference of Biogen.

However, in a new study released yesterday and is still pending peer review, three researchers revised their previous estimate to propose that 20,000 in the said area actually came from the event held at Marriott Long Wharf Hotel.

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Isolating COVID-19 Cases from Over 700 Local Patients

According to the three Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University scientists, alongside over 50 other researchers, they "isolated COVID-19 cases from 772 local patients" to identify their origin.

Out of the said number of patients, more than one third, or 289 of them were found to have a strain of virus traceable to the said event.

From that finding, the researchers concluded that "tens of thousands of people were possibly infected" following the gathering in late February.

Also, according to reports, as of July 1, the conference would have been accountable for 40 percent of the COVID-19 cases reported in the Boston area.

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The Three Scientists' Findings

In an email, the three scientists said that since the conference took place "early in the epidemic, it had the chance to spread widely" before wide-ranging capacity, business shut-downs, physical and social distancing, and face masks were implemented.

Also, according to the scientists, the patients who had conference-related viral genomes "comprised 122 who resided in homeless accommodations in Greater Boston or work with those people."

Many searched for treatment utilizing the health care program for the homeless. The research does not name exactly which shelters they were.

Furthermore, the three researchers said they don't have any idea how the virus spread from the biotech event to homeless shelters.

Nonetheless, they continued to say that "It illustrates that we are all connected," and that the pandemic immensely impacts more susceptible populaces-the moment it gets into homeless communities, the environments are ripe for it to spread more extensively.

Biogen's Response

The research did not explicitly specify Biogen by name, although the firm still responded to it with a statement. Biogen did not dispute the findings.

In the statement issued, the company said they "never would have knowingly put anyone at risk." Biogen also noted the conference took place before much was known about the pandemic adding, it "took steps to limit the spread" even before knowing if employees had the virus.

In April, Biogen joined a group comprising the Broad, Brigham and Woman's Hospital, and Mass General that developed a collection of both biological and medical data regarding COVID-19.

The company said, the globe to date, has a much more extensive understanding of how simply and quickly the infection can be transferred, and they are proud to be a contributor through the collaboration of worldwide initiative to combat the pandemic.

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