The occurrence of COVID‐19 is associated with air quality and relative humidity

Abstract

The association between meteorological factors and COVID‐19 is important for the prevention and control of COVID‐19. However, similar studies are relatively rare in China. This study aims to investigate the association between COVID‐19 and meteorological factors, such as average temperature, relative humidity, and air quality index (AQI), and average wind speed. We collected the daily confirmed cases of COVID‐19 and meteorological factors in Shanghai China from January 10, 2020 to March 31, 2020. A generalized additive model was fitted to quantify the associations between meteorological factors and COVID‐19 during the study period. A negative association between average temperature and daily confirmed cases of COVID‐19 was found on lag 13 days. In addition, we observed a significant positive correlation between meteorological factors (AQI, relative humidity) and daily confirmed cases of COVID‐19. A 10 increase in AQI (lag1/7/8/9/10 days) was correlated with a 4.2%–9.0% increase in the daily confirmed cases of COVID‐19. A 1% increase in relative humidity (lag1/4/7/8/9/10 days) was correlated with 1.7%–3.7% increase in the daily confirmed cases of COVID‐19. However, the associations between average wind speed and the daily confirmed cases of COVID‐19 is complex in different lag days. In summary, meteorological factors could affect the occurrence of COVID‐19. Reducing the effects of meteorological factors on COVID‐19 may be an important public health action for the prevention and control of COVID‐19.