The study assessed whether linking COVID-19 cases to their infectors in Dutch routine surveillance helps explain transmission. Cases reported between 27 February 2020 and 11 April 2022 were asked to name their most probable infector. Of 8,003,008 reported cases, 678,482 were linked, and these were largely representative by age, sex and location. The mean serial interval was 3.6 days (SD 3.4), and age mixing largely followed known contact patterns. In September 2021, most transmissions occurred between people not fully vaccinated, with few across vaccination status. Infectors were self-identified as most probable, and only 8.5% of cases could be linked.
Why it is interesting: Routine case data usually describe who becomes infected, not who infects others. These pairs show transmission between age and vaccination groups at a national scale.
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