Max Minute: Could Warmer Weather Have An Impact On The Coronavirus?
By Dr. Max Gomez
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Could warmer weather have an impact on the coronavirus?
That is both the hope and the fear.
The hope is that the coronavirus will behave like the flu virus and fade as the weather gets warmer.
The fear is that it will come back as the weather gets colder in the fall, also like the flu.
Unfortunately, we don't know for sure how the virus will behave because we are still learning about this completely new coronavirus.
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Some coronaviruses -- not this one -- cause common colds, and those corona colds don't really go away in the summer.
Places that already have warmer weather, like Singapore and Hong Kong, have not seen much slowdown in COVID-19 transmission. Australia, which is heading into its cooler fall season, is seeing an uptick in cases.
So epidemiologists say that waiting for the seasons to change is not a viable control plan for COVID-19.
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What will help and has been demonstrated to work is continuing strict social separation and stay-at-home policies, which we may have to reinstate in the fall.
The good news is that then we will be better prepared for an outbreak and a good number of the population will have recovered from COVID-19 and will likely be immune.
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