JAMA internal medicine
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JAMA internal medicine · Aug 2021
Multicenter StudyAssessing the Association Between Social Gatherings and COVID-19 Risk Using Birthdays.
Many policies designed to stop the spread of COVID-19 address formal gatherings, such as workplaces and dining locations. Informal social gatherings are a potentially important mode of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but studying their role in transmission is challenged by data and methodological limitations; birthdays offer an opportunity to empirically quantify the potential role of small social gatherings in COVID-19 spread. ⋯ This cross-sectional study suggests that birthdays, which likely correspond with social gatherings and celebrations, were associated with increased rates of diagnosed COVID-19 infection within households in counties with high COVID-19 prevalence.