HACKER Q&A
📣 andrewseanryan

Why didn’t SARS spread like Covid-19?


I recently read an article from Bloomberg claiming that SARS was more contagious (3.0 vs 2.8 RO) than COVID-19. If this is true, why were there only 8,000 cases? Here is the link: https://www.bloombergquint.com/opinion/how-bad-is-the-coronavirus-let-s-compare-with-sars-ebola-flu

  👤 detaro Accepted Answer ✓
I've seen two reasons named:

a) SARS had a shorter incubation period, so people got seriously ill and isolated quicker

b) The virus now is a lot more present in the upper respiratory system, even before symptoms appear, and thus spread more easily during the longer unrecognized period, whereas if you were highly contagious for SARS you also were quite sick already

👤 ohiovr
I read recently that SARS symptoms appeared near the infection time so it was easier to observe. MERS had a small replication value so it wasn't as virulent.