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Comment
. 2021 Mar 16:10:e67417.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.67417.

Should I stay or should I go?

Mirjam Kretzschmar  1 , Johannes Müller  2   3
Affiliations
Comment

Should I stay or should I go?

Mirjam Kretzschmar et al. Elife. .

Abstract

Analysing the characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus makes it possible to estimate the length of quarantine that reduces the impact on society and the economy, while minimising infections.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; contact tracing; epidemic containment; epidemiology; global health; human; quarantine.

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Conflict of interest statement

MK, JM No competing interests declared

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Costs versus benefits of quarantine depending on time.
The costs of quarantine (yellow bars and arrow) increase steadily with time, while the benefits (green arrow) – measured as number of onward transmissions (red bars) prevented – increase steeply at first, and then flatten. Ashcroft et al. estimate that balance between costs and benefits – known as the utility (blue arrow) – increases at first, reaching a peak after 6–8 days, and then decreases.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

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