Climate and life. Coronavirus COVID-19

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This article discusses the COVID-19 coronavirus from the point of view of its interaction with climate. It tries to understand if the arrival of good weather and high temperatures will help the control of the virus or even its disappearance, as we are hearing lately. The advice of the authorities is well known to all and we will not repeat it. If you have any doubts, check the Government’s page for COVID-19 here.

What is COVID-19?

Coronaviruses, known as CoVs, are a large family of viruses that cause colds and other more serious conditions. In the mildest cases they cause fever and respiratory symptoms such as coughing or difficulty breathing, but in the most severe cases they can cause pneumonia, kidney failure and even death. We have to clarify that the coronavirus causing the disease and the COVID-19, but the disorder itself responds to the name of SARS- CoV-2, initially called 2019 nCoV.

Precedents to COVID-19

In recent years we have had several pandemics involving coronaviruses. Here are some of them.

The INFLUENZA virus is the precursor of the influenza disease and the last pandemic was in 2009-10. It gained strength in the spring and reached its peak in the following winter. Its seasonality is determined by sensitivity to weather, changes in the human immune system and people’s behaviour patterns.

The SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak occurred at the beginning of 2003 and the pandemic was in decline from July, although some cases were recorded at the end of the year. Although it appears to be seasonal, it was public health interventions that caused its decline.

MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) is a type of coronavirus that resists high temperatures. The outbreak took place in 2012 in Saudi Arabia due to the spread of dromedaries to humans. The human-to-human contagion is almost exclusively of sanitary origin.

Can climate eliminate VID-19?

To begin with, we still do not have the necessary information about the virus to be able to know its development and the effect that climate has on it. Everything that is assumed is based on the studies of the flu and other coronaviruses that affected us previously, so there is no absolute certainty about the behavioral factors that the virus carries.

COVID-19 and temperature

COVID-19 Coronavirus is best transmitted at low temperatures and in a dry environment. Although it seems that high temperatures do not favour the spread, it is easily transmitted in warm countries and does not seem to be a determining factor for its disappearance. The ease of transmission in winter is also determined by human behavior. Premises and dwellings closed to the outside winter environment, with high values in temperatures and low in humidity favour the spread of the virus.

COVID-19 and humidity

Damp environments do harm the spread of the virus, because the humidity of the environment causes the drops containing the virus to fall by gravity, lowering the level of possibility of infection. The lack of humidity facilitates the fixation of the virus in the respiratory tract.

COVID-19 and solar radiation

Ultraviolet radiation boosts the human immune system by adding vitamin D and increasing melatonin levels, so the body is equipped with more tools to fight the virus.

The global factor

If we are talking about a global pandemic, we have to think that when winter ends in the northern hemisphere, it will begin in the southern hemisphere. This can shift the peaks of infection to South America, Oceania and Africa, only to return again to the north when winter begins.

It is therefore utopian to think that climate will be decisive in the eradication of the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak. It could have an influence on the development in certain areas of the planet while others would raise the level of infection and complete a seasonal migration of the virus. Without support from governments and medical and scientific authorities, it seems difficult to stop a virus with a contagious capacity of the highest known of its kind.

Better to ignore

Many political leaders did not give the COVID-19 Coronavirus the importance it deserved. These are some of the statements, not very responsible in most cases. It is better to listen to the competent medical community than to the competence of the heads of state, sometimes in question.

“A lot of people think they’re going to leave in April in the heat. As the heat comes up. Normally, he’ll leave in April.”

Donald Trump. 9/2/2020.

“And so, my political hero is the mayor of Jaws. Yes, because he kept the beaches open. Yes, he rejected, disregarded and rescinded all those stupid health and safety regulations and announced that people should swim. Swim! Now, I accept that as a result the shark ate some children. But how much pleasure did the MOST get from those beaches because of the courage of the mayor of Jaws?

Boris Johnson. 2006.

“He’s going to keep going out to shop, he’s going to keep going out for air. So it was legitimate and our scientific committee told us again yesterday that you can go out and vote by taking the necessary precautions.”

Emmanuel Macron. 16/3/2020.