RT Journal
A1 Maurano, Matthew T.
A1 Ramaswami, Sitharam
A1 Zappile, Paul
A1 Dimartino, Dacia
A1 Boytard, Ludovic
A1 Ribeiro-dos-Santos, André M.
A1 Vulpescu, Nicholas A.
A1 Westby, Gael
A1 Shen, Guomiao
A1 Feng, Xiaojun
A1 Hogan, Megan S.
A1 Ragonnet-Cronin, Manon
A1 Geidelberg, Lily
A1 Marier, Christian
A1 Meyn, Peter
A1 Zhang, Yutong
A1 Cadley, John
A1 Ordoñez, Raquel
A1 Luther, Raven
A1 Huang, Emily
A1 Guzman, Emily
A1 Arguelles-Grande, Carolina
A1 Argyropoulos, Kimon V.
A1 Black, Margaret
A1 Serrano, Antonio
A1 Call, Melissa E.
A1 Kim, Min Jae
A1 Belovarac, Brendan
A1 Gindin, Tatyana
A1 Lytle, Andrew
A1 Pinnell, Jared
A1 Vougiouklakis, Theodore
A1 Chen, John
A1 Lin, Lawrence H.
A1 Rapkiewicz, Amy
A1 Raabe, Vanessa
A1 Samanovic, Marie I.
A1 Jour, George
A1 Osman, Iman
A1 Aguero-Rosenfeld, Maria
A1 Mulligan, Mark J.
A1 Volz, Erik M.
A1 Cotzia, Paolo
A1 Snuderl, Matija
A1 Heguy, Adriana
T1 Sequencing identifies multiple early introductions of SARS-CoV-2 to the New York City region
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2020 
FD December 01 
VO 30 
IS 12 
SP 1781 
OP 1788 
DO 10.1101/gr.266676.120 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/30/12/1781.abstract 
AB Effective public response to a pandemic relies upon accurate measurement of the extent and dynamics of an outbreak. Viral genome sequencing has emerged as a powerful approach to link seemingly unrelated cases, and large-scale sequencing surveillance can inform on critical epidemiological parameters. Here, we report the analysis of 864 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from cases in the New York City metropolitan area during the COVID-19 outbreak in spring 2020. The majority of cases had no recent travel history or known exposure, and genetically linked cases were spread throughout the region. Comparison to global viral sequences showed that early transmission was most linked to cases from Europe. Our data are consistent with numerous seeds from multiple sources and a prolonged period of unrecognized community spreading. This work highlights the complementary role of genomic surveillance in addition to traditional epidemiological indicators.