A paper by four Chinese professors concludes that high temperatures and high relative humidity significantly reduce the transmission of the Wuhan coronavirus.
This conclusion is based on a study of all 100 Chinese cities with more than 40 cases of the virus.
The professors found that a one degree Celsius increase in temperature and a one percent increase in relative humidity lower “R” by 0.0383 and 0.0224, respectively.
“R” is the effective reproductive number of the virus. As I understand it, if that number drops below 1.0, it means the virus is dying off faster than it is reproducing.
The authors note that their findings are “consistent with the fact that the high temperature and high humidity significantly reduce the transmission of influenza.”
They conclude that “the arrival of summer and rainy season in the northern hemisphere can effectively reduce the transmission of the COVID-19.”
The study is also consistent with the findings of a paper I wrote about here. That study looked at average temperatures in areas across the globe that the virus was hitting at the time.
The Chinese study is a city-by-city comparison in the same country that controls for population density and GDP per capita.
For what it’s worth.
Read more at PowerLine
That’s great news and would be expected. Question is what temperature is needed for the value to go below 1.0. With all the restrictions popping up around the country (here in Colorado all restaurants, bars, gyms, and places holding more than 250 must close with it even worse up in the mountains) will we see a reduction in the spread of cases? Not that there are that many yet–again here in Colorado we have had 160 confirmed cases with one death (in a state of >5M people so hardly an epidemic yet).
Spring starts Friday summer is on its way the days will be getting warmer and and COVID 19 will fade away
The R number isn’t the droplets, but the number of people on the average that an infected person will pass the disease onto. Yes, if the R number drops below 1.0, this disease will die out. The estimated R number for Covid-19 is 2.0 to 3.11. The reduction estimated in this article would drop the values to a range of 1.94 to 3.05. I often point out that climate change alarmists make a big deal of a very small changes in numbers.
Our family is in isolation because of Covid-19. My son has had flu symptoms for five days but tested negative for the ordinary flu and a bacterial infection which makes it likely that his symptoms are from the coronavirus. My daughter and wife as well as myself are at risk. We are waiting for the test results. Just in case it helps a little we have the house at a high temperature and are boiling water on the stove.
You’re in the north west, a hard hit area. I wish you and your family the best.
Fudging with the Data to suit their political Green Agendas that’s what its all about