Want to know whether the new coronavirus will spread or not? You have to know this one little number

COVID-19. SARS. MERS. Ebola... whenever there's a new outbreak, scientists rush to calculate a number called the R0, or R-naught. Why? Its been a critical part of the scientific effort to understand just how transmissible the new virus is. Here's how.


For more coverage of novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, is here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/report/the-new-coronavirus-outbreak-what-we-know-so-far/


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