3 ms·
> First, `1/1-R_0`. This is exactly what Wikipedia says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity#Mechanics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity#Mecha
by xscott 6y ago
> First, `1/1-R_0`. This is exactly what Wikipedia says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity#Mechanics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity#Mechanics
I have no expertise in this area, but Wikipedia does not say:
1/(1 - R_0)
It's:
1 - (1/R_0)
Which makes much more sense to me on a math footing. You should probably fix that in your article so it doesn't confuse other pedants like myself.
- ryankemper 6y agoDoh! Thanks for catching that. That is a really glaring mistake on my part. (The irony in me having said it was "exactly" what Wikipedia says is not lost on me :P) https://gitlab.com/ryankemper/writings/-/commit/093ade62944768b5cd8627aaf81f94cc613483ff https://gitlab.com/ryankemper/writings/-/commit/093ade629447...
- xscott 6y agoNo worries - it was clearly just a typo :-)
- ryankemper 6y agoIt is fun to imagine the negative herd immunity threshold implied by the erroneous form of the equation though :P Say R0 is 2, 1/(1 - R0) means that we already hit herd immunity before SARS-CoV-2 even existed!
- xscott 6y agoThe frightening one for me was R0 == 1: Basically, we'd need a positive or negative infinite percentage of people to be infected depending on which direction you approach it from.