Do weather and climate influence the distribution of the novel coronavirus (sars cov-2)? A review from a biogeographical perspective

Abstract

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the disease COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus SARS CoV-2, to be a global pandemic. This article reviews the scientific contributions released to date that relate atmospheric conditions (i.e. weather and climate) to the distribution of SARS CoV-2. Most of the contributions conclude that there is some influence of weather and climate on the distribution and progress of COVID-19. Specifically, a cool and dry environment, in the context of a mesothermal climate, seems to most favour the spread of the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus. However, a significant number of studies suffer from inadequate research designs, making it difficult to reliably isolate the genuine effect of atmospheric conditions on disease spread from other effects, including potential artefacts derived from observed prevalence, spatial and temporal dependence, and human geography (such as geographical connectivity, population mobility, and health system). We conclude that there are only indications, rather than evidence, that atmospheric conditions may explain a limited part of the space-time dynamics of SARS CoV-2.