Fig. 1

Critical timelines of SARS CoV2 from the perspective of the virus and the host, respectively (in analogy to Halloran [6]). The parameters for SARS-CoV2 are inserted into the didactic figure by Halloran within the referring chapter in the classical textbook by Rothman and Greenland [6]. Dynamics of infectiousness refers to the perspective from the virus. Dynamics of disease refers to the host, the human. Tg generation time; PPP1 prepatency period 1: time from start of viral shedding to start of symptoms [5]; PPP2 prepatency period 2: from start of viral shedding to isolation [5]; θ: fraction infected before onset of symptoms or isolation, respectively [1]; incubation period according to Lauer et al. [7]