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Business Insider

US President Donald Trump and many other people have expressed optimism that the coronavirus might go away when weather warms in a similar way to the seasonal flu.
But it's summer in Australia and the average temperature is about 23 degrees Celsius (74 degrees Fahrenheit). At least 128 people there have got the coronavirus and three have died.
Tom Hanks confirmed on Wednesday that he and his wife tested positive for the new coronavirus while in Australia's Gold Coast.
It's evidence that warmer weather does not make the coronavirus disappear.




















View this post on Instagram



















Hello folks. @ritawilson and I want to thank everyone here Down Under who are taking such good care of us. We have Covid-19 and are in isolation so we do not spread it to anyone else. There are those for whom it could lead to a very serious illness. We are taking it one-day-at-a-time. There are things we can all do to get through this by following the advice of experts and taking care of ourselves and each other, no? Remember, despite all the current events, there is no crying in baseball. Hanx
A post shared by Tom Hanks (@tomhanks) on Mar 12, 2020 at 7:08pm PDT



Some symptoms of the new coronavirus appear similar to the flu and common cold – the Covid-19 disease it causes is marked by fevers, coughing, and occasionally severe lung infections.
Because flus and colds tend to fluctuate with the seasons, retreating in summer and returning in the winter each year, many people – including Trump – have expressed optimism that impending springtime warmth could stymie the virus' spread.
Singapore prime minister says virus pandemic ‘could last a year’
But experts do not think we can bank on seeing a retreat of the new coronavirus – whose scientific name is Sars-CoV-2 – come spring and summer.
“The short answer is that while we may expect modest declines in the contagiousness of Sars-CoV-2 in warmer, wetter weather, and perhaps with the closing of schools in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, it is not reasonable to expect these declines alone to slow transmission enough to make a big dent,” epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch wrote in a post for Harvard University.


In February, Trump issued a prediction about the coronavirus outbreak: “A lot of people think that goes away in April, with the heat that comes in,” he said.
But Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious-disease expert with the World Health Organisation, said at a press conference on March 5 that “we have no reason to believe that this virus would behave differently in different temperatures.” 
Hanks' diagnosis offered unfortunate evidence of that. The virus is still circulating in a part of the world experiencing summer.

According to Lipsitch, that could be because even seasonal infections can happen “out of season” when they are new.
“New viruses have a temporary but important advantage – few or no individuals in the population are immune to them,” he wrote. “In simple terms, viruses that have been around for a long time can make a living – spread through the population – only when the conditions are the most favourable, in this case in winter,” he said, referring to flu.
But never-before-seen viruses like the new coronavirus can “spread outside the normal season for their longer-established cousins,” Lipsitch added.
Respiratory viruses can spread more easily in winter because cooler temperatures help harden a protective gel-like coating that surrounds the virus particles. A stronger shell allows them to survive long enough to travel from one person to the next.

The flu virus in particular “survives better in cool, dry temperatures,” Amanda Sinek, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, told Insider.
But of course, the northern and southern hemispheres do not experience the same seasons at the same time. So once China and the US see warmer weather, countries in South America and Oceania will be entering winter.
Plus, some countries do not experience dramatic seasonal changes at all, so “the flu circulates there year-round,” said Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security.


There's still much to learn about how the new coronavirus will behave in the Northern Hemisphere come summer.
“We've only known about this virus for eight weeks or so – starting in late December, and now we're into March,” van Kerkhove said. “So if anything, we don't know much about what this virus will do over the course of a season.”
Read the original story on Business Insider


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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus: think warmer weather will kill the outbreak? It hasn’t in Australia

A man wears a gas mask outside the locked gates of the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney on Friday. Photo: EPA

YOUNGPOST 18 01 18 NEWS: Stock photo ID: 87974689 sneeze girl credit: SHUTTERSTOCK

This image obtained March 12, 2020 courtesy of The National Institutes of Health(NIH)/NIAD-RML shows a scanning electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 (round gold objects) emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab, SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV, is the virus that causes COVID-19, which was isolated from a patient in the US. - US President Donald Trump announced a shock 30-day ban on travel from mainland Europe over the coronavirus pandemic that has sparked unprecedented lockdowns, widespread panic and another financial market meltdown March 12, 2020. Trump's unexpected move in a primetime TV address from the Oval Office pummelled stock markets, as traders fretted about the economic impact of the outbreak that is on a seemingly relentless march across the planet. (Photo by Handout / National Institutes of Health / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO /NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH/NIAD-RML/HANDOUT " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN

A woman wearing a face mask takes a photo near the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia on Friday. Photo: EPA

Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson in hospital ‘isolation’ after shock coronavirus announcement

Tom Hanks: ‘We’ll keep the world posted and updated’. Photo: Reuters

epa08287765 (FILE) - US actor Tom Hanks (R) and his wife, US actress Rita Wilson arrive at the European premiere of their movie 'The Post' in London, Britain, 10 January 2018 (reissued 12 March 2020). According to media reports, Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson tested positive for coronavirus. EPA-EFE/NEIL HALL

Trump fears emergency declaration would contradict coronavirus message

US President Donald Trump listens during a White House meeting with banking industry executives about the coronavirus on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Climate change and coronaviruses: a warming world encourages the emergence and spread of new infectious diseases

Ash from wildfires forms patterns at Narrawallee Beach, located near the town of Milton in New South Wales, Australia, on January 13. The Australian fires have burned across an area twice the size of Switzerland while claiming at least 28 lives and destroying thousands of homes. Photo: Bloomberg

Coronavirus: Singapore PM says pandemic could last a year but city won’t be locked down

Singapore confirmed nine new cases, raising its total number of infections to 187. Photo: AFP

A customer wearing a protective mask browses goods inside a supermarket in Singapore, on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020. Singapore authorities urged residents to relax on their shopping sprees that have emptied supermarket shelves, saying supplies aren't under threat even as response efforts to battle the coronavirus outbreak have escalated. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Singapore's President Lee Hsien Loongsays the country will not raise its alert level or be placed on lockdown. Photo: Handout

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Because flus and colds tend to fluctuate with the seasons, some have expressed optimism that springtime warmth could stymie the virus' spread
But experts do not think we can bank on seeing a retreat of the new coronavirus come spring and summer in the Northern Hemisphere



Because flus and colds tend to fluctuate with the seasons, some have expressed optimism that springtime could stymie the outbreak’s spread. But experts are not sure.
