The epidemic is now spreading faster in China than anywhere else in the world during the pandemic. In epidemiology, scientists use an R-value to measure how many people on average are infected by a single patient, at the start of the pandemic, in early 2020, the R-value was about 2 or 3. During last winter’s surge of omicron in the U.S., the R-value jumped to about 10 or 11. Scientists at the Chinese National Health Council estimate that in this outbreak in China, the R-value is as high as 16, spreading fa
