The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global crisis with enormous uncertainty. This study aims to explore what role weather plays in pandemic transmission. We hypothesize that weather conditions (temperature, wind speed, and precipitation) significantly influence the transmissibility of the disease and the number of infected people. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing weather variable in moving-average-windows that varied from 1 to 30 days, and daily new confirmed cases observed from 23 counties in the United States, during the period of January 22 to August 19, 2020. We found consistent results that the moving average temperature over 10 days (Tavg10), the moving average wind speed and the moving average amount of precipitation over 28 days (Wavg28, Pavg28) were the meteorological parameters most closely linked to the outbreak and growth of new cases of COVID-19 in the US. The correlation statistics differed regionally: (1) temperature is negatively correlated to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Northeastern US and positively in other areas; (2) wind speed is negatively correlated to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Southeastern US while positively in other areas; and (3) precipitation holds a positive correlation on the east coast of the US and a negative one on the west coast. Our results suggest that meteorological factors may play a significant role in COVID-19 pandemic transmission in the US and should be considered by policy makers and crisis administrators.
Published in | Journal of Health and Environmental Research (Volume 6, Issue 4) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.jher.20200604.11 |
Page(s) | 104-113 |
Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group |
COVID-19, Lag Effect, Temperature, Wind Speed, Precipitation, Pandemic
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APA Style
Zhenkun Tian, Chuixiang Yi, Yingying Fu, Jacqueline Singer, Qin Zhang. (2020). Spatiotemporal Analysis of Weather Effects on COVID-19 Pandemic Transmissions in Select US Counties. Journal of Health and Environmental Research, 6(4), 104-113. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jher.20200604.11
ACS Style
Zhenkun Tian; Chuixiang Yi; Yingying Fu; Jacqueline Singer; Qin Zhang. Spatiotemporal Analysis of Weather Effects on COVID-19 Pandemic Transmissions in Select US Counties. J. Health Environ. Res. 2020, 6(4), 104-113. doi: 10.11648/j.jher.20200604.11
AMA Style
Zhenkun Tian, Chuixiang Yi, Yingying Fu, Jacqueline Singer, Qin Zhang. Spatiotemporal Analysis of Weather Effects on COVID-19 Pandemic Transmissions in Select US Counties. J Health Environ Res. 2020;6(4):104-113. doi: 10.11648/j.jher.20200604.11
@article{10.11648/j.jher.20200604.11, author = {Zhenkun Tian and Chuixiang Yi and Yingying Fu and Jacqueline Singer and Qin Zhang}, title = {Spatiotemporal Analysis of Weather Effects on COVID-19 Pandemic Transmissions in Select US Counties}, journal = {Journal of Health and Environmental Research}, volume = {6}, number = {4}, pages = {104-113}, doi = {10.11648/j.jher.20200604.11}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jher.20200604.11}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jher.20200604.11}, abstract = {The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global crisis with enormous uncertainty. This study aims to explore what role weather plays in pandemic transmission. We hypothesize that weather conditions (temperature, wind speed, and precipitation) significantly influence the transmissibility of the disease and the number of infected people. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing weather variable in moving-average-windows that varied from 1 to 30 days, and daily new confirmed cases observed from 23 counties in the United States, during the period of January 22 to August 19, 2020. We found consistent results that the moving average temperature over 10 days (Tavg10), the moving average wind speed and the moving average amount of precipitation over 28 days (Wavg28, Pavg28) were the meteorological parameters most closely linked to the outbreak and growth of new cases of COVID-19 in the US. The correlation statistics differed regionally: (1) temperature is negatively correlated to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Northeastern US and positively in other areas; (2) wind speed is negatively correlated to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Southeastern US while positively in other areas; and (3) precipitation holds a positive correlation on the east coast of the US and a negative one on the west coast. Our results suggest that meteorological factors may play a significant role in COVID-19 pandemic transmission in the US and should be considered by policy makers and crisis administrators.}, year = {2020} }
TY - JOUR T1 - Spatiotemporal Analysis of Weather Effects on COVID-19 Pandemic Transmissions in Select US Counties AU - Zhenkun Tian AU - Chuixiang Yi AU - Yingying Fu AU - Jacqueline Singer AU - Qin Zhang Y1 - 2020/10/17 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jher.20200604.11 DO - 10.11648/j.jher.20200604.11 T2 - Journal of Health and Environmental Research JF - Journal of Health and Environmental Research JO - Journal of Health and Environmental Research SP - 104 EP - 113 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2472-3592 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jher.20200604.11 AB - The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global crisis with enormous uncertainty. This study aims to explore what role weather plays in pandemic transmission. We hypothesize that weather conditions (temperature, wind speed, and precipitation) significantly influence the transmissibility of the disease and the number of infected people. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing weather variable in moving-average-windows that varied from 1 to 30 days, and daily new confirmed cases observed from 23 counties in the United States, during the period of January 22 to August 19, 2020. We found consistent results that the moving average temperature over 10 days (Tavg10), the moving average wind speed and the moving average amount of precipitation over 28 days (Wavg28, Pavg28) were the meteorological parameters most closely linked to the outbreak and growth of new cases of COVID-19 in the US. The correlation statistics differed regionally: (1) temperature is negatively correlated to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Northeastern US and positively in other areas; (2) wind speed is negatively correlated to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Southeastern US while positively in other areas; and (3) precipitation holds a positive correlation on the east coast of the US and a negative one on the west coast. Our results suggest that meteorological factors may play a significant role in COVID-19 pandemic transmission in the US and should be considered by policy makers and crisis administrators. VL - 6 IS - 4 ER -