Weather may have no impact on COVID-19 spread: Study

NEW DELHI: A study published in the International Journal of Environment Research and Public Health states that temperature and humidity don’t play a significant role in COVID-19 spread. The study, led by Indian-origin researcher in the United States of America (USA), suggests that transmission of novel coronavirus depends almost completely on the human behavior and not the weather.

The study investigated human behavior in general and did not mean to connect it with the weather. It was found that the weather’s relative importance at the national level was less than 3 per cent, with no indication of effect of a specific type of weather. Moreover, taking trips (34 per cent) and spending time away from home (26 per cent) were the two most important factors contributing to growth of transmission of COVID-19. The study noted that the next two factors were population and urban density in terms of relative importance in spreading the infection.

Dev Niyogi, Professor, University of Texas (UT), USA, said that the effect of weather is low and other factors such as mobility have a much greater impact. Moreover, in terms of relative importance, weather is one of the least important parameters, he added. At the national and state level, the researchers examined the relationship between COVID-19 infection and human behavior using cell phone data.