> I feel uninterested in R-nought (or R) when there is evidence for a huge variance around how many people each person will infect. Epidemics are by definitio

> I feel uninterested in R-nought (or R) when there is evidence for a huge variance around how many people each person will infect. Epidemics are by definition aggregate effects. They're defined by statistical models at all levels. Everyone involved understands that there is variance in individual cases. That's literally the whole point of the field inventing terms like R0! I genuinely don't understand what you're trying to say here. It sounds suspiciously like "I don't understand statistics so I refuse to believe in any models that use them."