Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40093215›Full record

ArticlemedRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences2025

Seasonal forcing and waning immunity drive the sub-annual periodicity of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Ilan N Rubin, Mary Bushman, Marc Lipsitch, William P Hanage

Abstract readPreprint
In one paragraph

Article in medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Ilan N RubinCenter for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, United States.ORCID 0000-0001-5820-2068
Mary BushmanCenter for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-0933-5053
Marc LipsitchCenter for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-1504-9213
William P HanageCenter for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, United States.ORCID 0000-0002-6319-7336

Funding

Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases and BiodefenseT32AI007535 · NIAID · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (SCH OF PUBLIC HLTH) · PI GRAD, YONATAN H, MURRAY, MEGAN B · 1998 to 2025
$4.8M
Casual, Statistical and Mathematical Modeling with Serologic DataU01CA261277 · NCI · HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · PI HANAGE, WILLIAM, LIPSITCH, MARC · 2020 to 2023
$2.8M
NCI NIH HHS U01 CA261277NIAID NIH HHS T32 AI007535
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Seasonal trends in infectious diseases are shaped by climatic and social factors, with many respiratory viruses peaking in winter. However, the seasonality of COVID-19 remains in dispute, with significant waves of cases across the United States occurring in both winter and summer. Using wavelet analysis of COVID-19 cases, we find that the periodicity of epidemic COVID-19 varies markedly across the U.S. and correlates with winter temperatures, indicating seasonal forcing. However, seasonal forcing alone cannot explain the pattern of multiple waves per year that has been so disruptive and unique to COVID-19. Using a modified SIRS model that allows specification of the tempo of waning immunity, we show that specific forms of non-durable immunity can sufficiently explain the sub-annual waves characteristic of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Identifiers

PMID40093215
PMCPMC11908326

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.