As we move from a colder winter to a warmer spring, the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic may significantly depend on levels of humidity — indoors and outdoors — a new review suggests.
Prof. Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiologist at Yale University, in New Haven, CT, is the senior author of the paper, which appears in the Annual Review of Virology.
As Prof. Iwasaki and the co-authors note, seasonal cycles are known to play a crucial role in the transmission of respiratory viral illnesses.
The common cold and flu reach epidemic proportions during winter. The key outbreaks of SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 — the viruses that cause SARS and COVID-19, respectively — have also occurred in the winter. Stay informed with live updates on the current