COVID-19 pandemic: environmental and social factors influencing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in São Paulo, Brazil
Liane Yuri Kondo Nakada, Rodrigo Custodio Urban
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, doi:10.1007/s11356-020-10930-w
The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 14 million people worldwide so far. Brazil is currently the second leading country in number of cases of COVID-19, while São Paulo state accounts for 20% of total confirmed cases in Brazil. The aim of this study was to assess environmental and social factors influencing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the expanded metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil. Firstly, a spatial analysis was conducted to provide insights into the spread of COVID-19 within the expanded metropolitan area. Moreover, Spearman correlation test and sensitivity analysis were performed to assess social indicators and environmental conditions which possibly influence the incidence of COVID-19. Our results reveal that the spread of COVID-19 from the capital city São Paulo-its epicenter in Brazil-is directly associated with the availability of highways within the expanded metropolitan area of São Paulo. As for social aspects, COVID-19 infection rate was found to be both positively correlated with population density, and negatively correlated with social isolation rate, hence indicating that social distancing has been effective in reducing the COVID-19 transmission. Finally, COVID-19 infection rate was found to be inversely correlated with both temperature and UV radiation. Together with recent literature our study suggests that the UV radiation provided by sunlight might contribute to depletion of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity.
References
Ahmadi, Sharifi, Dorosti, Ghoushchi, Ghanbari, Investigation of effective climatology parameters on COVID-19 outbreak in Iran, Sci Total Environ,
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138705
Harmooshi, Shirbandi, Rahim, Environmental concern regarding the effect of humidity and temperature on 2019-nCoV survival: fact or fiction, Environ Sci Pollut Res,
doi:10.1007/s11356-020-09733-w
He, Tao, Yan, Huang, Molecular mechanism of evolution and human infection with SARS-CoV-2, Viruses,
doi:10.3390/v12040428
Liu, Zhou, Yao, Zhang, Li et al., Impact of meteorological factors on the COVID-19 transmission: a multi-city study in China, Sci Total Environ,
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138513
Qi, Xiao, Shi, Ward, Chen et al., COVID-19 transmission in Mainland China is associated with temperature and humidity: a time-series analysis, Sci Total Environ,
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138778
Sagripanti, Lytle, Estimated inactivation of coronaviruses by solar radiation with special reference to COVID-19, Photochem Photobiol,
doi:10.1111/php.13293
Schuit, Gardner, Wood, Bower, Williams et al., The influence of simulated sunlight on the inactivation of Influenza Virus in aerosols, J Infect Dis,
doi:10.1093/infdis/jiz582
Seade, Coronavirus
Seade, None
Wilkinson, Local response in health emergencies: key considerations for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in informal urban settlements, Environ Urban,
doi:10.1177/0956247820922843
Worldometers, Coronavirus
Wu, Jing, Liu, Ma, Yuan et al., Effects of temperature and humidity on the daily new cases and new deaths of COVID-19 in 166 countries, Sci Total Environ,
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139051
Zhu, Liu, Huang, Llaguno, Lazo et al., Meteorological impact on the COVID-19 pandemic: a study across eight severely affected regions in South America, Sci Total Environ,
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140881
{ 'indexed': { 'date-parts': [[2022, 12, 16]],
'date-time': '2022-12-16T12:50:16Z',
'timestamp': 1671195016642},
'reference-count': 25,
'publisher': 'Springer Science and Business Media LLC',
'issue': '30',
'license': [ { 'start': { 'date-parts': [[2020, 9, 28]],
'date-time': '2020-09-28T00:00:00Z',
'timestamp': 1601251200000},
'content-version': 'tdm',
'delay-in-days': 0,
'URL': 'https://www.springer.com/tdm'},
{ 'start': { 'date-parts': [[2020, 9, 28]],
'date-time': '2020-09-28T00:00:00Z',
'timestamp': 1601251200000},
'content-version': 'vor',
'delay-in-days': 0,
'URL': 'https://www.springer.com/tdm'}],
'content-domain': {'domain': ['link.springer.com'], 'crossmark-restriction': False},
'published-print': {'date-parts': [[2021, 8]]},
'DOI': '10.1007/s11356-020-10930-w',
'type': 'journal-article',
'created': {'date-parts': [[2020, 9, 28]], 'date-time': '2020-09-28T20:02:38Z', 'timestamp': 1601323358000},
'page': '40322-40328',
'update-policy': 'http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/springer_crossmark_policy',
'source': 'Crossref',
'is-referenced-by-count': 24,
'title': 'COVID-19 pandemic: environmental and social factors influencing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in São '
'Paulo, Brazil',
'prefix': '10.1007',
'volume': '28',
'author': [ { 'ORCID': 'http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9733-4805',
'authenticated-orcid': False,
'given': 'Liane Yuri Kondo',
'family': 'Nakada',
'sequence': 'first',
'affiliation': []},
{'given': 'Rodrigo Custodio', 'family': 'Urban', 'sequence': 'additional', 'affiliation': []}],
'member': '297',
'published-online': {'date-parts': [[2020, 9, 28]]},
'reference': [ { 'key': '10930_CR1',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '138705',
'DOI': '10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138705',
'volume': '729',
'author': 'M Ahmadi',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Ahmadi M, Sharifi A, Dorosti S, Ghoushchi SF, Ghanbari N (2020) '
'Investigation of effective climatology parameters on COVID-19 outbreak '
'in Iran. Sci Total Environ 729:138705. '
'https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138705',
'journal-title': 'Sci Total Environ'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR2',
'unstructured': 'Brazil (2020) Ministry of Health – COVID19 – Coronavirus Panel. '
'https://covid.saude.gov.br/. Accessed 10 July 2020'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR3',
'unstructured': 'CETESB – São Paulo State Environmental Agency (2020). QUALAR: air '
'quality information system. '
'https://qualar.cetesb.sp.gov.br/qualar/home.do. Accessed 22 Apr 2020'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR4',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '22336',
'DOI': '10.1007/s11356-020-08896-w',
'volume': '27',
'author': 'A El-Sayed',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'El-Sayed A, Kamel M (2020) Climatic changes and their role in emergence '
'and re-emergence of diseases. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27:22336–22352. '
'https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08896-w',
'journal-title': 'Environ Sci Pollut Res'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR5',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'unstructured': 'Hamidi S, Sabouri S, Ewing R (2020) Does density aggravate the COVID-19 '
'pandemic? J Am Plan Assoc 1–15. '
'https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2020.1777891',
'DOI': '10.1080/01944363.2020.1777891'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR6',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '36027',
'DOI': '10.1007/s11356-020-09733-w',
'volume': '27',
'author': 'NN Harmooshi',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Harmooshi NN, Shirbandi K, Rahim F (2020) Environmental concern '
'regarding the effect of humidity and temperature on 2019-nCoV survival: '
'fact or fiction. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27:36027–36036. '
'https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09733-w',
'journal-title': 'Environ Sci Pollut Res'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR7',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '428',
'DOI': '10.3390/v12040428',
'volume': '12',
'author': 'J He',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'He J, Tao H, Yan Y, Huang SY, Xiao Y (2020) Molecular mechanism of '
'evolution and human infection with SARS-CoV-2. Viruses 12:428. '
'https://doi.org/10.3390/v12040428',
'journal-title': 'Viruses'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR8',
'unstructured': 'John Hopkins University & Medicine (2020) Coronavirus Resource Center. '
'https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html Accessed 18 July 2020'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR9',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '138513',
'DOI': '10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138513',
'volume': '726',
'author': 'J Liu',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Liu J, Zhou J, Yao J, Zhang X, Li L, Xu X, He X, Wang B, Fu S, Niu T, '
'Yan J, Shi Y, Ren X, Niu J, Zhu W, Li S, Luo B, Zhang K (2020) Impact of '
'meteorological factors on the COVID-19 transmission: a multi-city study '
'in China. Sci Total Environ 726:138513. '
'https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138513',
'journal-title': 'Sci Total Environ'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR10',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '138884',
'DOI': '10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138884',
'volume': '728',
'author': 'A Mollalo',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Mollalo A, Vahedi B, Rivera KM (2020) GIS-based spatial modeling of '
'COVID-19 incidence rate in the continental United States. Sci Total '
'Environ 728:138884. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138884',
'journal-title': 'Sci Total Environ'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR11',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '138862',
'DOI': '10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138862',
'volume': '729',
'author': 'DN Prata',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Prata DN, Rodrigues W, Bermejo PH (2020) Temperature significantly '
'changes COVID-19 transmission in (sub)tropical cities of Brazil. Sci '
'Total Environ 729:138862. '
'https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138862',
'journal-title': 'Sci Total Environ'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR12',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '138778',
'DOI': '10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138778',
'volume': '728',
'author': 'H Qi',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Qi H, Xiao S, Shi R, Ward MP, Chen Y, Tu W, Su Q, Wang W, Wang X, Zhang '
'Z (2020) COVID-19 transmission in Mainland China is associated with '
'temperature and humidity: a time-series analysis. Sci Total Environ '
'728:138778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138778',
'journal-title': 'Sci Total Environ'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR13',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '731',
'DOI': '10.1111/php.13293',
'volume': '96',
'author': 'J-L Sagripanti',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Sagripanti J-L, Lytle CD (2020) Estimated inactivation of coronaviruses '
'by solar radiation with special reference to COVID-19. Photochem '
'Photobiol 96:731–737. https://doi.org/10.1111/php.13293',
'journal-title': 'Photochem Photobiol'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR14',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '138810',
'DOI': '10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138810',
'volume': '728',
'author': 'M Şahin',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Şahin M (2020) Impact of weather on COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. Sci '
'Total Environ 728:138810. '
'https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138810',
'journal-title': 'Sci Total Environ'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR15',
'unstructured': 'São Paulo (2020a) São Paulo state–Decreto n. 64.881, de 22 de Março de '
'2020. https://www.al.sp.gov.br/norma/193361. Accessed 21 April 2020'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR16',
'unstructured': 'São Paulo (2020b) São Paulo state–social isolation intelligent '
'monitoring system. '
'https://www.saopaulo.sp.gov.br/coronavirus/isolamento/. Accessed 07 July '
'2020'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR17',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '372',
'DOI': '10.1093/infdis/jiz582',
'volume': '221',
'author': 'M Schuit',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Schuit M, Gardner S, Wood S, Bower K, Williams G, Freeburger D, Dabisch '
'P (2020) The influence of simulated sunlight on the inactivation of '
'Influenza Virus in aerosols. J Infect Dis 221:372–378. '
'https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiz582',
'journal-title': 'J Infect Dis'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR18',
'unstructured': 'SEADE (2020a) Coronavirus. https://www.seade.gov.br/coronavirus/. '
'Accessed 07 July 2020'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR19',
'unstructured': 'SEADE (2020b) IMP https://www.imp.seade.gov.br. Accessed 07 July 2020'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR20',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '138539',
'DOI': '10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138539',
'volume': '725',
'author': 'A Tobías',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Tobías A (2020) Evaluation of the lockdowns for the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic '
'in Italy and Spain after one month follow up. Sci Total Environ '
'725:138539. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138539',
'journal-title': 'Sci Total Environ'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR21',
'unstructured': 'WHO – World Health Organization (2020) WHO Director-General’s opening '
'remarks at the media briefing on COVID19 - 11 March 2020. '
'https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19%2D%2D-11-march-2020. '
'Accessed 25 Apr 2020'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR22',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'unstructured': 'Wilkinson A (2020) Local response in health emergencies: key '
'considerations for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in informal urban '
'settlements. Environ Urban:095624782092284. '
'https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247820922843',
'DOI': '10.1177/0956247820922843'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR23',
'unstructured': 'Worldometers (2020) Coronavirus. '
'https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/. Accessed 30 Apr 2020'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR24',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '139051',
'DOI': '10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139051',
'volume': '729',
'author': 'Y Wu',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Wu Y, Jing W, Liu J, Ma Q, Yuan J, Wang Y, Du M, Liu M (2020) Effects of '
'temperature and humidity on the daily new cases and new deaths of '
'COVID-19 in 166 countries. Sci Total Environ 729:139051. '
'https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139051',
'journal-title': 'Sci Total Environ'},
{ 'key': '10930_CR25',
'doi-asserted-by': 'publisher',
'first-page': '140881',
'DOI': '10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140881',
'volume': '744',
'author': 'L Zhu',
'year': '2020',
'unstructured': 'Zhu L, Liu X, Huang H, Avellán-Llaguno RD, Lazo MML, Gaggero A, Rifo RS, '
'Patiño L, Valencia-Avellan M, Diringer B, Huang Q, Zhu Y-G (2020) '
'Meteorological impact on the COVID-19 pandemic: a study across eight '
'severely affected regions in South America. Sci Total Environ '
'744:140881. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140881',
'journal-title': 'Sci Total Environ'}],
'container-title': 'Environmental Science and Pollution Research',
'original-title': [],
'language': 'en',
'link': [ { 'URL': 'https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11356-020-10930-w.pdf',
'content-type': 'application/pdf',
'content-version': 'vor',
'intended-application': 'text-mining'},
{ 'URL': 'https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-020-10930-w/fulltext.html',
'content-type': 'text/html',
'content-version': 'vor',
'intended-application': 'text-mining'},
{ 'URL': 'https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11356-020-10930-w.pdf',
'content-type': 'application/pdf',
'content-version': 'vor',
'intended-application': 'similarity-checking'}],
'deposited': { 'date-parts': [[2021, 9, 28]],
'date-time': '2021-09-28T00:51:11Z',
'timestamp': 1632790271000},
'score': 1,
'resource': {'primary': {'URL': 'https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11356-020-10930-w'}},
'subtitle': [],
'short-title': [],
'issued': {'date-parts': [[2020, 9, 28]]},
'references-count': 25,
'journal-issue': {'issue': '30', 'published-print': {'date-parts': [[2021, 8]]}},
'alternative-id': ['10930'],
'URL': 'http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10930-w',
'relation': {},
'ISSN': ['0944-1344', '1614-7499'],
'subject': [ 'Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis', 'Pollution', 'Environmental Chemistry',
'General Medicine'],
'container-title-short': 'Environ Sci Pollut Res',
'published': {'date-parts': [[2020, 9, 28]]},
'assertion': [ { 'value': '9 May 2020',
'order': 1,
'name': 'received',
'label': 'Received',
'group': {'name': 'ArticleHistory', 'label': 'Article History'}},
{ 'value': '18 July 2020',
'order': 2,
'name': 'revised',
'label': 'Revised',
'group': {'name': 'ArticleHistory', 'label': 'Article History'}},
{ 'value': '30 July 2020',
'order': 3,
'name': 'accepted',
'label': 'Accepted',
'group': {'name': 'ArticleHistory', 'label': 'Article History'}},
{ 'value': '28 September 2020',
'order': 4,
'name': 'first_online',
'label': 'First Online',
'group': {'name': 'ArticleHistory', 'label': 'Article History'}},
{ 'value': 'This content has been made available to all.',
'name': 'free',
'label': 'Free to read'}]}