The traffic in Los Angeles is doomed to live in infamy. Is there any benefit? With the outbreak of coronavirus, it’s become clear (again) that some cities have bigger outbreaks. Generally, bigger cities equal bigger outbreaks. The twist? Cities with the most efficient public transportation systems are the worst off! The good news is we may be able to use this information to target hitchhiking viruses.

Written and reported by Sumner L. Norman, Ph.D.

References

Dalziel, Benjamin D., Babak Pourbohloul, and Stephen P. Ellner. "Human mobility patterns predict divergent epidemic dynamics among cities." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280.1766 (2013): 20130763.

Tian, Huaiyu, et al. "An investigation of transmission control measures during the first 50 days of the COVID-19 epidemic in China." Science (2020).