community spread
noun
variants
or community transmission
: the spread of a contagious disease within a community
specifically
: the spread of a contagious disease to individuals in a particular geographic location who have no known contact with other infected individuals or who have not recently traveled to an area where the disease has any documented cases
Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, who is the top coronavirus expert in the country, said community spread made it almost impossible to predict how many cases there will be. —
Megan Sheets and Emily Crane
Megan Sheets and Emily Crane … a 50-year-old New Rochelle man became the first known person in New York to contract the virus through community spread. —Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell In areas where community transmission is high, schools may be closed and businesses may ask employees to work from home. —Melissa Healy
Melissa Healy Examples of community spread in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
What is the community spread in my area?
—Daniel A. Gross, New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2025
Nationwide, non-medical exemptions are at an all-time high, and kindergarten vaccination rates have fallen to the range of 92 percent, below the 95 percent target needed to prevent community spread.
—Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 3 Sep. 2025
That suggests community spread may be stronger than the testing numbers alone show.
—Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 Aug. 2025
Public health officials focus on vaccination rates for kindergartners because elementary schools can be hot spots for germs and origins of community spread.
—Cindy Krischer Goodman, Sun Sentinel, 18 Aug. 2025
The infectious disease expert said the measles cases popping up in California are mainly due to international travel and spillover from other parts of the United States rather than local community spread.
—Hannah Poukish, Sacbee.com, 24 July 2025
Much more worrying is the broader upsurge in vaccine rejection, which threatens to introduce community spread of measles into the wider population.
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Twin Cities, 16 July 2025
Cases rose quickly in Colorado last month when an out-of-state traveler flew while infectious, leading to multiple cases among passengers on the same plane, and others among people who were in the airport at the same time and broader community spread from those cases.
—Deidre McPhillips, CNN Money, 5 July 2025
There has yet to be evidence of community spread in California, according to the California Department of Public Health, but many public health experts are worried that with more unvaccinated people, the incredibly contagious virus is increasingly likely to find vulnerable humans to infect.
—Harriet Blair Rowan, Mercury News, 22 June 2025
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Daniel A. Gross, New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2025
Nationwide, non-medical exemptions are at an all-time high, and kindergarten vaccination rates have fallen to the range of 92 percent, below the 95 percent target needed to prevent community spread.
—Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 3 Sep. 2025
That suggests community spread may be stronger than the testing numbers alone show.
—Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 Aug. 2025
Public health officials focus on vaccination rates for kindergartners because elementary schools can be hot spots for germs and origins of community spread.
—Cindy Krischer Goodman, Sun Sentinel, 18 Aug. 2025
The infectious disease expert said the measles cases popping up in California are mainly due to international travel and spillover from other parts of the United States rather than local community spread.
—Hannah Poukish, Sacbee.com, 24 July 2025
Much more worrying is the broader upsurge in vaccine rejection, which threatens to introduce community spread of measles into the wider population.
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Twin Cities, 16 July 2025
Cases rose quickly in Colorado last month when an out-of-state traveler flew while infectious, leading to multiple cases among passengers on the same plane, and others among people who were in the airport at the same time and broader community spread from those cases.
—Deidre McPhillips, CNN Money, 5 July 2025
There has yet to be evidence of community spread in California, according to the California Department of Public Health, but many public health experts are worried that with more unvaccinated people, the incredibly contagious virus is increasingly likely to find vulnerable humans to infect.
—Harriet Blair Rowan, Mercury News, 22 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Community spread.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community%20spread. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.
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