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.2020.138705Harmooshi, 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-wHe, Tao, Yan, Huang, Molecular mechanism of evolution and human infection with SARS-CoV-2, Viruses,
doi:10.3390/v12040428Liu, 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.2020.138513Qi, 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.2020.138778Sagripanti, Lytle, Estimated inactivation of coronaviruses by solar radiation with special reference to COVID-19, Photochem Photobiol,
doi:10.1111/php.13293Schuit, 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/jiz582Seade, Coronavirus
Seade, None
Wilkinson, Local response in health emergencies: key considerations for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in informal urban settlements, Environ Urban,
doi:10.1177/0956247820922843Worldometers, 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.2020.139051Zhu, 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
