The study, published in the journal SSRN, formerly known as Social Science Research Network, examined how air temperature and humidity may influence COVID-19 transmission. Researchers calculated the daily effective reproductive number (R), which is the expected number of secondary cases produced by a single infectious case, for 100 cities in China, each with more than 40 cases. Jan. 21-23 was the study period.
Researchers found that “high temperature and high relative humidity [can] significantly reduce the transmission of COVID-19, respectively.”
A 1-degree Celsius increase in temperature and 1 percent increase in relative humidity lowered the daily effective reproductive number, researchers said.
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