Atmospheric and climatic aspects in the expansion of the pandemic (covid-19) in the province of alicante

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the biggest recent challenges that science has encountered. A multitude of studies aim to respond to the spread of this coronavirus, hitherto unknown, under certain atmospheric and climatic conditions. The study of parameters such as temperature, humidity, and radiation in the months of February and March 2020, as well as a correlative analysis with various other variables, aims to weigh the weight that these variables could have in the expansion of this pathogen in the province of Alicante. The results indicate, in a preliminary manner, that the only variable that is related to the contagion and death rates are the maximum temperatures. This fact could be related to the climatic niche of the coronavirus and could be decisive in its expansion worldwide. The lack of information on the above rates at municipal level, as well as the absence of mobility data on such a small scale, prevents the drawing of definitive conclusions.