ArticleThe Science of the total environment2021
Containment measures limit environmental effects on COVID-19 early outbreak dynamics.
Article in The Science of the total environment, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- A meta-analysis result: Uneven influences of season, geo-spatial scale and latitude on relationship between meteorological factors and the COVID-19 transmission.Environmental research · 2022Pooled it
- The impact of geo-environmental factors on global COVID-19 transmission: A review of evidence and methodology.The Science of the total environment · 2022Pooled it
- Spatiotemporal dynamics and associated drivers of COVID-19 incidence in Nepal.Tropical medicine and health · 2025Article
- Exploring the Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Children and Adolescents with COVID-19 Infections in Slovakia during March 2020 to July 2022.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
- Seasonality of endemic COVID-19.mBio · 2023Article
- Article
- A Literature Review of the Effects of Air Pollution on COVID-19 Health Outcomes Worldwide: Statistical Challenges and Data Visualization.Annual review of public health · 2023Review
- Environmental impacts of covid-19 pandemic: Release of microplastics, organic contaminants and trace metals from face masks under ambient environmental conditions.Environmental research · 2023Article
- What are the Effects of Climate Variables on COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review and Current Update.Advanced biomedical research · 2023Review
- Mechanisms influencing the factors of urban built environments and coronavirus disease 2019 at macroscopic and microscopic scales: The role of cities.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Climatic and Environmental Factors Influencing COVID-19 Transmission-An African Perspective.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2022Review
- Climate change and COVID-19: Interdisciplinary perspectives from two global crises.The Science of the total environment · 2022Review
- Sustainable impact of COVID-19 on education projects: aspects of naturalism.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022Article
- Correlations between the urban built environmental factors and the spatial distribution at the community level in the reported COVID-19 samples: A case study of Wuhan.Cities (London, England) · 2022Article
- Atmospheric particulate matter effects on SARS-CoV-2 infection and spreading dynamics: A spatio-temporal point process model.Environmental research · 2022Article
- A deep learning approach for Spatio-Temporal forecasting of new cases and new hospital admissions of COVID-19 spread in Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy.Journal of biomedical informatics · 2022Article
- Global response of conservationists across mass media likely constrained bat persecution due to COVID-19.Biological conservation · 2022Article
- Air pollution and COVID-19 mortality and hospitalization: An ecological study in Iran.Atmospheric pollution research · 2022Article
- A narrative review on the role of temperature and humidity in COVID-19: Transmission, persistence, and epidemiological evidence.Eco-Environment & Health · 2022Review
- Modeling and Preliminary Analysis of the Impact of Meteorological Conditions on the COVID-19 Epidemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Environmental factors are well known to affect spatio-temporal patterns of infectious disease outbreaks, but whether the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the globe is related to local environmental conditions is highly debated. We assessed the impact of environmental factors (temperature, humidity and air pollution) on the global patterns of COVID-19 early outbreak dynamics during January-May 2020, controlling for several key socio-economic factors and airport connections. We showed that during the earliest phase of the global outbreak (January-March), COVID-19 growth rates were non-linearly related to climate, with fastest spread in regions with a mean temperature of ca. 5 °C, and in the most polluted regions. However, environmental effects faded almost completely when considering later outbreaks, in keeping with the progressive enforcement of containment actions. Accordingly, COVID-19 growth rates consistently decreased with stringent containment actions during both early and late outbreaks. Our findings indicate that environmental drivers may have played a role in explaining the early variation among regions in disease spread. With limited policy interventions, seasonal patterns of disease spread might emerge, with temperate regions of both hemispheres being most at risk of severe outbreaks during colder months. Nevertheless, containment measures play a much stronger role and overwhelm impacts of environmental variation, highlighting the key role for policy interventions in curbing COVID-19 diffusion within a given region. If the disease will become seasonal in the next years, information on environmental drivers of COVID-19 can be integrated with epidemiological models to inform forecasting of future outbreak risks and improve management plans.
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