Introductions and early spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the New York City area.

Ana Silvia Gonzalez-Reiche Matthew M Hernandez Mitchell J SullivanBrianne CiferriHala Alshammary Ajay Obla Shelcie Fabre Giulio KleinerJose PolancoZenab KhanBremy Alburquerque Adriana van de Guchte Jayeeta Dutta Nancy J FrancoeurBetsaida Salom MeloIrina Oussenko Gintaras Deikus Juan Soto Shwetha Hara Sridhar Ying-Chih Wang Kathryn Twyman Andrew Kasarskis Deena R Altman Melissa Laird SmithRobert SebraJudith A Aberg Florian Krammer Adolfo García-SastreMarta LukszaGopi Patel Alberto Paniz Mondolfi Melissa Randy Gitman Emilia Mia Sordillo Viviana Simon Harm van Bakel

Published in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2020)

New York City (NYC) has emerged as one of the epicenters of the current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. To identify the early transmission events underlying the rapid spread of the virus in the NYC metropolitan area, we sequenced the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients seeking care at the Mount Sinai Health System. Phylogenetic analysis of 84 distinct SARS-CoV-2 genomes indicates multiple, independent, but isolated introductions mainly from Europe and other parts of the United States. Moreover, we found evidence for community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 as suggested by clusters of related viruses found in patients living in different neighborhoods of the city.

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