Experts sound the alarm over super-spreading sites
Prompted by recent coronavirus outbreaks in a Roma settlement and a retirement home, experts are calling for measures to limit the impact of so-called “super-spreading” sites.
Alkiviadis Vatopoulos, professor of public health microbiology at the University of West Attica’s Department of Public Health Policy, explains that places where many people live in close proximity are most likely to lead to mass infections.
Such facilities include nursing homes, military camps and migrant facilities.
“We would prefer not to have outbreaks in these places, but it was something we were unable to avoid in the end,” Vatopoulos says.
Epidemiologists keep separate records of these cases for statistical reasons. “As long as restrictions are imposed on the movement of these [infected] individuals and inspections are carried out, [these outbreaks] will not affect the overall evolution of the epidemic in the country,” he says.
