Warmer weather unlikely to reduce the COVID-19 transmission: An ecological study in 202 locations in 8 countries.
To examine the association between meteorological factors (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and UV radiation) and transmission capacity of COVID-19.We collected daily numbers of COVID-19 cases in 202 locations in 8 countries. We matched meteorological data from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. We used a time-frequency approach to examine the possible association between meteorological conditions and basic reproductive number (R0) of COVID-19. We determined the correlations between meteorological factors and R0 of COVID-19 using multiple linear regression models and meta-analysis. We further validated our results using a susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered (SEIR) metapopulation model to simulate the changes of daily cases of COVID-19 in China under different temperatures and relative humidity conditions.Temperature did not exhibit significant association with R0 of COVID-19 (meta p = 0.446). Also, relative humidity (meta p = 0.215), wind speed (meta p = 0.986), and ultraviolet (UV) radiation (meta p = 0.491) were not significantly associated with R0 either. The SEIR model in China showed that with a wide range of meteorological conditions, the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases would not change substantially.Meteorological conditions did not have statistically significant associations with the R0 of COVID-19. Warmer weather alone seems unlikely to reduce the COVID-19 transmission.
Duke Scholars
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- Weather
- Temperature
- SARS-CoV-2
- Pneumonia, Viral
- Pandemics
- Humans
- Environmental Sciences
- Coronavirus Infections
- China
- COVID-19
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Weather
- Temperature
- SARS-CoV-2
- Pneumonia, Viral
- Pandemics
- Humans
- Environmental Sciences
- Coronavirus Infections
- China
- COVID-19