COVID-19 rates oscillate every six months in the US, new study shows

COVID-19 instances within the U.S. have proven sudden oscillating waves each six months between the southern states and the northern states and, to a lesser diploma, from east to west, in line with analysis printed in Scientific Reports.

Public well being scientists from the College of Pittsburgh, College of Ottawa and College of Washington carried out the primary detailed evaluation to show and characterize the six-month oscillation of instances throughout house and time. It supplies key data that would inform public well being actions, comparable to vaccination campaigns, that intention to manage the virus.

“The COVID-19 winter waves are in step with that of different respiratory viruses, however the existence of a repeated extra surge through the summer season was sudden,” stated senior writer Donald S. Burke, M.D., dean emeritus of Pitt’s Faculty of Public Well being.

“These waves begin close to the southern U.S. border in July and August, when the climate is hottest and the humidity is excessive—elements that often tamp down the unfold of respiratory viruses. We do not have rationalization for why COVID-19 charges ought to enhance in each the warmest and coolest occasions of the 12 months.”

The analysis workforce, which incorporates lead writer Hawre Jalal, M.D., Ph.D., of the College of Ottawa, and Kyueun Lee, Ph.D., of the College of Washington, imagine the information counsel the six-month U.S. COVID-19 waves could also be half of a bigger sample sweeping up and down the North American continent.

Additional knowledge is required to check the speculation and decide the precise mechanisms fueling these sudden seasonal oscillations.