Can hot weather hold spread of COVID-19?

Lecturer Dr. Areej M. Noaman
Community Health Department
Cihan University - Erbil

To begin with, it is hard to answer this question at the time being as there are no sufficient seasonal data linked to spread of SARS Cov 2 (COVID-19), beside conflicting reports that support the adverse effects of high temperatures on the virus and those which negate such association.

Many people wish that outbreaks of the new coronavirus will abate as weather get warmer, yet pandemics usually don’t behave like the way of seasonal outbreaks.

However, at the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and the Global Virus Network (GVN), scientists anticipate that COVID-19 pursue a seasonal curve identical to that of other respiratory viruses seasonal flu. They establish this judgment upon weather designing data in regions where the virus has a grip and disseminate in the population.

There are a few initial suggestions that COVID-19 can, likewise fluctuate by seasons. Globally, spreading of outbreaks of the current disease hint to advocate it has a predilection to cold and dry settings, despite the fact that it is useful to note that the virus has emerged in regions that have extensive range of meteorologic conditions which have high temperatures and humidity.

An unprinted study which compares the climate in 500 localities worldwide where cases of Covid-19 diagnosed suggests a link between temperature, wind speed and relative humidity and spreading of the virus. Lower incidence of Covid-19 has been linked to higher temperatures by another not-published analysis, however it notes that international discrepancy in the incidence cannot be accounted for temperature alone.

In conclusion, and according to CDC, in the meantime it is not well established that COVID-19 spread is affected by climate and temperature. During the months of cool weather, viruses of flu and common cold spread more, but this does not indicate it is not possible to get sick by these viruses during other months. Studies are continuing to know much about COVID-19 transmissibility, its severity in addition to other features of this virus.

So in the current times and in order to protect yourself from COVID-19 it is necessary to ensure social distancing, manage your mental health, stay physically active and get enough sleep to keep your immune system in good condition. And don’t forget to wash your hands.