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The dog days of summer have a very special way of making you uncomfortable. But those soaring temperatures and the extreme humidity that make you sweat disappear as we begin to fall. However, it turns out that stickiness in the air that makes you feel gross can actually help stop the spread of coronavirus. According to a new study, even a slight change in weather to lower humidity could double COVID cases due to favorable spreading conditions for the virus.
New research from Australia, published today in the journal Border and emerging diseases, finds that there is a direct correlation with a decrease in humidity and an increase in the community transmission of the new coronavirus. Results show that only a one percent drop in relative humidity can increase COVID cases by 7 to 8 percent, and a 10 percent drop in humidity would double the number of coronavirus cases in any given area.
“Dry air seems to favor the spread of COVID-19, which means time and place become important,” Michael Ward, PhD, an epidemiologist at the University of Sydney and co-author of the study, said in a statement. “Accumulating evidence shows that climate is a factor in COVID-19 proliferation, which raises the prospect of outbreaks of seasonal disease.”
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Teenage girl wearing protective mask for school during medical crisis of epidemic virus that spreads covid 19
The new study is the second study from Ward to preserve such findings, built on evidence that he found in May that atmospheric conditions can accelerate or slow down the dispersion of particles. “When the humidity is lower, the air is drier and makes the aerosols smaller,” Ward said from the previous study. “If you sneeze and cough, those smaller infectious aerosols can stay in the air longer. That increases exposure to other people.”
However, higher humidity levels present another risk: Another new study published in the journal today Physics of liquids found that potentially COVID-contaminated respiratory droplets can live up to 23 times longer in high humidity.
That’s why in June, Erin Bromage, PhD, an associate professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, told CNN that there is a sweet spot when it comes to humidity. “There is a kind of ‘Goldilocks’ zone for the coronavirus, between 40 and 60 [percent] Humidity, where it does not survive very long, “said Bromage. And for more on the weather and COVID, check Dr. Fauci Just confirmed that this one thing kills Coronavirus.
Video: The best time to catch flu as pandemic continues throughout nation (USA TODAY)
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