4 ms·
Not to belabor the point, but "r-factor" isn't the correct term here. If we're using a SIR model that assumes patients go from Susceptible (S) to Infected (I) a
by skwb 6y ago
Not to belabor the point, but "r-factor" isn't the correct term here. If we're using a SIR model that assumes patients go from Susceptible (S) to Infected (I) and Recovered (R), we can still assume some proportion of patients can move back to the (S) compartment (i.e. losing immunity, what that is in reality for COVID obviously has a debate that I will not address here).
The "r-factor" (also called R_0, or attack rate), described the rate at which people once exposed to the virus move from S->I. The proportion of patients in (R) should not fundamentally change the r-factor.
That said, I do think your fundamental assessment in that moving more people from (S) directly to (R) would decrease the rate at which the disease spreads.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartmental_models_in_epidemiology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartmental_models_in_epidem...
- Someone1234 6y agoI'm pretty sure they're talking about Basic reproduction number[0] from context. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_reproduction_number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_reproduction_number
- skwb 6y agoMy point still stands; vaccines do not change R0. They artificially move people from S -> R.
- strbean 6y agoSounds like they are talking about Re -- effective reproduction rate -- right?
- skwb 6y agoI think you're right. That said, I do wish that people would be a bit more precise (and focus less on generic and confusing jargon) in their language however when discussing epidemiology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_reproduction_number#Effective_reproduction_number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_reproduction_number#Effe...
- Someone1234 6y agoIf you're lowing the number of additional people an infected person infects with a disease, that's measured by a lower basic reproduction number (Rx), which was what the poster above was talking about. It being artificially reduction is kind of given as it a vaccine, but as the basic reproduction number is being used to measure the number of reproductions from each [known] infected person within population groups it seems like THE measure of a vaccine's impact. You seem to be talking about something else entirely.