How Contagious is Monkeypox Compared to COVID-19?
According to our research, Monkeypox has a reproduction rate R of 0.85, compared to 8.2 that of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, making Monkeypox less contagious compared to COVID-19. With an R number of less than 1, Monkeypox has yet to reach pandemic potential.
The R number indicates, on average, how many people an infected person will go on to infect. For example, an R number of 10 means an infected person will infect 10 new people. The higher the R number, the more exponentially infectious disease can be.
Research on Monkeypox has been around for over 20 years. Monkeypox isn’t a new virus or variation. However, the viral infection has seen a spike in interest as communities in the UK and Canada have increased outbreaks.
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Khang T. Vuong received his Master of Healthcare Administration from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. He was named Forbes Healthcare 2021 30 under 30. Vuong spoke at Stanford Medicine X, HIMSS conference, and served as a Fellow at the Bon Secours Health System.