What’s the safest gathering size to slow the coronavirus? There isn't one.
Official recommendations are all over the map, when in truth, group size isn’t what matters most with stopping transmission.
As much of the world grinds to a halt to reduce the spread of COVID-19, official recommendations for social distancing have pushed people into ever-smaller clusters, while also confusing an ever-growing number of the general public.
Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned against groups larger than 250 if there was no known community spread of the novel coronavirus in a region. On Sunday, the guidelines shrunk to a maximum of 50 people for the next eight weeks. On Monday, the White House recommended a maximum of 10. In most cases, the rationale for these specific numbers is not entirely clear, leading to inconsistent behaviors.
In truth, while everyone wants to know how many people is too many,
