The rate of transmission a virus has determines how infectious it is. The higher the R0 or Basic Reproductive Number is, the more contagious the virus is and the more people it will infect. This chart ranks the fastest-spreading viruses throughout world history. Some of these listed now have a vaccine, like measles and chicken pox but those still infect millions of people annually and can be deadly for people with compromised immune systems. Even different strains of COVID have different reproduction rates. According to the team at New York Requirements the Omicron variant has the highest R0 rate at 10.5 while the Delta variant has an R0 of 6, the Alpha variant has an R0 of 4.5 and the original COVID-10 strain has an R0 of 2.5. The top 10 viruses that spread the fastest are:
1) Measles
2) Chickenpox/Shingles
3) Mumps
4) COVID-19 (Omicron Variant)
5) Norovirus
6) Smallpox
7) Rubella
8) COVID-19
9) Polio
10) Hepatitis B
Infographic by: nyrequirements
