8/5/2023 0 Comments Corona weather year round![]() So the first problem with this myth is that we don’t know whether those coronaviruses, which go by the evocative names like OC43, HKU1, 229E, and NL63, are good analogies for this virus. Predicting how a novel virus will behave based on how others behave is always speculative, but sometimes we have to do so when we have little else to go on. ![]() Myth 2: The “common cold” coronaviruses are seasonal, with little transmission in the summer, so SARS-CoV-2 will be too. The resurgence confirms that it was control measures that stopped transmission the first time. This resurgence was eventually linked to a case from the first wave. In Toronto, SARS resurged after the initial wave was controlled and precautions were discontinued. These worked well for SARS because those who were most infectious were also quite ill in a distinctive way - the sick cases were the transmitters, so isolating the sick curbed transmission. These involved isolating cases, quarantining their contacts, a measure of “social distancing,” and other intensive efforts. It was killed by extremely intense public health interventions in mainland Chinese cities, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Canada and elsewhere. Myth 1: In 2003, SARS went away on its own as the weather got warmer. ![]() The short answer is that while we may expect modest declines in the contagiousness of SARS-CoV-2 in warmer, wetter weather and perhaps with the closing of schools in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, it is not reasonable to expect these declines alone to slow transmission enough to make a big dent.īefore making the positive case for my assertions, let me start by busting some myths. Some have even suggested that the experience with SARS in 2003 provides evidence for this assertion. Several people, including the US president, have suggested that the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes, COVID-19, will go away on its own in the warmer weather that will come in the Northern Hemisphere in coming months. Professor of Epidemiology and Director, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard T.H.
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