[tduberne]

Really interesting paper. Layman summary for those not used to network science: infection rate are lower than expected from standard models, because they consider each infected person meets new completely random strangers, while in reality, they are more likely to meet those who infected them, or those who infected those who infected them.

In particular, the paper shows that a "phase transition" happens when the degree (average number of person met per person) exceeds a threshold, which the paper estimates to be around 7. Above that threshold, growth becomes exponential rather than linear.