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This is an excellent article on R₀ estimates, especially the pros and cons of early calculations in a health situation. With many people throwing around R₀ estimates like they're Gospel Truths, this article should be a helpful resource for people focused on Coronavirus.

ERROR IN R₀ ESTIMATES AND PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS

After considering these issues, we believe that the estimation of the basic reproductive number, R₀, for a particular disease epidemic has limited practical value outside the population from which the disease data originated. For example, epidemiologists have employed R₀ in understanding the 1918 influenza pandemic, making myriad estimates by applying various models, resulting in a broad range of published values.28 This variability highlights the difficulties associated with measuring the basic reproductive number of an epidemic, even when working with a considerable body of epidemiological data from a pandemic that occurred well in the past....Overreliance on early estimates of R₀ made in one country can lead to policy decisions in another country that may be suboptimal for that country. Moreover, disparate estimations of R₀ may drive inadequately informed policies.