BOSTON — The Biogen conference that sparked the first major coronavirus spread in Massachusetts was responsible for hundreds of thousands of cases across the world, according to researchers.
About 100 people who attended the February conference at the Mariott Long Wharf in Boston tested positive for the virus. But a study published in the journal Sciencesaid about 330,000 additional cases were estimated to have stemmed from the conference.
In that case, the conference would be responsible for well over 1 percent of the total COVID-19 cases in the United States. It would also account for more than half of the state’s cases in the early weeks of the pandemic.
Executives returning home from the conference carried the virus to states like Florida, North Carolina and Indiana, where it continued to spread. Tens of thousands of Florida cases are thought to have originated at the conference.
The Biogen conference “produced sustained community transmission and was exported, resulting in extensive regional, national, and international spread,” the study said.Subscribe
The Science study estimates the conference was responsible for far more cases than thought just a few months ago. An August study said the conference contributed to 20,000 cases in Massachusetts.
“We never would have knowingly put anyone at risk,” Biogen said in a statement earlier in the year. “When we learned a number of our colleagues were ill, we did not know the cause was COVID-19, but we immediately notified public health authorities and took steps to limit the spread.”
The Science study also points to an outbreak at a nursing home in Wilmington as a more deadly superspreader event, saying 82 of 97 residents and 36 of 97 staff members got the virus. About 30 died. The outbreak was largely contained within the facility.
As of Thursday, there were 264,454 reported coronavirus cases in Massachusetts and at least 10,573 deaths related to the virus.
PEABODY, PATCH
