Sci Total Environ. Evidence that high temperatures and intermediate relative humidity might favor the spread of COVID-19 in tropical climate: A case study for the most affected Brazilian cities

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Sci Total Environ. 2020 Apr 28;729:139090. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139090. [Epub ahead of print]
Evidence that high temperatures and intermediate relative humidity might favor the spread of COVID-19 in tropical climate: A case study for the most affected Brazilian cities.


Auler AC¹, C?ssaro FAM², da Silva VO³, Pires LF⁴.

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Abstract

This study aimed to analyze how meteorological conditions such as temperature, humidity and rainfall can affect the spread of COVID-19 in five Brazilian (S?o Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bras?lia, Manaus and Fortaleza) cities. The cities selected were those with the largest number of confirmed cases considering data of April 13. Variables such as number of cumulative cases, new daily cases and contamination rate were employed for this study. Our results showed that higher mean temperatures and average relative humidity favored the COVID-19 transmission, differently from reports from coldest countries or periods of time under cool temperatures. Thus, considering the results obtained, intersectoral policies and actions are necessary, mainly in cities where the contamination rate is increasing rapidly. Thus, prevention and protection measures should be adopted in these cities aiming to reduce transmission and the possible collapse of the health system.
Copyright ? 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.



KEYWORDS:

Air temperature; Coronavirus; Humidity; Meteorology; Principal component analysis; SARS-CoV2


PMID:32388137DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139090