Database

Superspreading events have occurred all over the world. The database below contains more than 1,500 superspreading events, listing the key features of each event:
  • location
  • date
  • the type of setting(s) it took place in
  • whether it happened indoors or outdoors
  • how many people were infected
  • whether it happened in flu season or not
  • whether additional risk factors were present (for example, vocalizing & refrigeration)
 
The database can be used by public health officials, researchers, organizations and the public to devise better, more targeted strategies to limit the damage the pandemic and policies to combat it are doing. (Please note that although they share one contributor, the database project is independent of the current website)

View the database on Google Drive. To edit, sort etc create a copy (File => Make Copy) or download the sheet.

This article has some important information about the database and its limitations.


Pie Charts 

(per September 1 2020)

The pies leave out all the settings with only a few occurrences, so the pies are smaller than they would have been if all superspreading events in the database had been included.

Some categories (eg 'medical' and 'hospital', the various 'ship' subcategories, 'weddings' and 'funerals') are merged.

Only settings in the 'Setting1' column are counted, so if for example an event has 'worker housing' in that column and 'construction site' in the 'Setting2' column, the latter is not counted.

Also note that the 'sports: audience' category primarily consists of the soccer match in Italy, which is one of the only two superspreading events where the total case number is just a guess (the other is Mardi Gras). Moreover, many transmission events associated with the soccer match likely took place around the match itself (transportation, bars, restaurants etc). So this number should not be taken to mean that all (or even a significant amount of) transmission took place at the soccer match itself.