The Independent published a news story today looking at whether a heatwave will slow down COVID-19 or not. In the article they discussed data from a research study published by members of the Virus Watch study team in March.
Using historical data from The Flu Watch study, the research team found that levels of infection from three common coronaviruses appear to have followed a seasonal pattern in England, with peaks occurring during winter and broadly at the same time as influenza. The team also found that only small amounts of coronavirus were transmitted in the summer.
First author Dr Rob Aldridge said, “Our findings support the idea that in the UK we could see continued but lower levels of coronavirus transmission in the summer, but this may reverse in the winter if there is still a large susceptible population at that point,” said lead author Rob Aldridge.
“However, given this is a novel virus, we don’t know if this seasonal pattern will hold over the summer due to high levels of susceptibility in the population.”
You can read the full research article here and also the news item in The Independent here.
This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Source: CDC Public Health Image Library, Credit: Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAMS