COVID-19 and climate: global evidence from 117 countries

Simiao Chen, Klaus Prettner, Michael Kuhn, Pascal Geldsetzer, Chen Wang, Till Bärnighausen, David E. Bloom

Publikation: Working/Discussion PaperWorking Paper/Preprint

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Abstract

Visual inspection of world maps shows that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is less prevalent in countries closer to the equator, where heat and humidity tend to be higher. Scientists disagree how to interpret this observation because the relationship between COVID-19 and climatic conditions may be confounded by many factors. We regressconfirmed COVID-19 cases 5per million inhabitants in a country against the country’s distance from the equator, controlling key confounding factors: air travel, distance to Wuhan, testing intensity, cell phone usage, vehicle concentration, urbanization, and income. A one-degree increase in absolute latitude is associated with a 2.6% increase in cases per million inhabitants (p value <0.001). The Northern hemisphere may see a decline in new COVID-19 cases during summer and aresurgence during winter.
One Sentence Summary: An increase in absolute latitude by onedegree is associated with a 2.6% increase in COVID-19 cases per million inhabitants after controlling for several important factors.
OriginalspracheEnglisch
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 2020

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