RESEARCH ARTICLE
Verifying the Theory of Climate Affecting Lethality of COVID-19 by an Analysis in Two Climatic Zones of Chile
Cesar Ivan Aviles-Gonzalez1, *, Alessandra Scano2, Giulia Cossu3, Roberto Littera3, Marcello Campagna4, Simona Deidda5, Ferdinando Romano6, Goce Kalcev7, Davide Firinu8, Federico Meloni3, Mauro Giovanni Carta3, Stefano Del Giacco8, Angelo Restivo5, Luigi Zorcolo5, Luigi Marongiu5, Giorgio Tamburini3, Alberto Maleci3, Germano Orrù2, Luchino Chessa9, María Verónica Brasesco10
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2022Volume: 15
E-location ID: e187494452204140
Publisher ID: e187494452204140
DOI: 10.2174/18749445-v15-e2204140
Article History:
Received Date: 26/1/2022Revision Received Date: 08/2/2022
Acceptance Date: 2/3/2022
Electronic publication date: 30/06/2022
Collection year: 2022
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Introduction:
The study of seasonal influences on the COVID-19 pandemic can take advantage of the unique position of Chile and its different climatic profiles in the north-south extension. The purpose is to verify the influence of seasonal climate changes on the COVID-19 in the temperate and sub-arctic areas of Chile.
Methods:
We monitored the evolution of CFR in temperate versus sub-boreal regions, reporting from the John Hopkins University COVID-19 Center on the CFR in each province in midwinter, spring, and early summer.
Results:
CFR worsened from mid-winter to mid-spring in the temperate zone of Chile, while in the sub-boreal area the CFR improves in the same period, (Kruskal Wallis Test, p=0.004). In the temperate zone after the increase in late winter-early spring, CRF tends to stabilize; on the contrary in the sub-boreal zone, there is a more marked tendency to worsen the CFR at the same time (Kruskal Wallis Test, p=0.010). The temperate zone of Chile shows a CFR increasing until spring-like temperate Europe, unlike Europe CFR does not decrease in summer, but the mean minimum temperature in temperate Chile is lower in summer than in temperate Europe. In Patagonian, CFR remains stable or drops from winter to spring but increases in early summer.
Conclusion:
The temperate and sub-boreal zones of Chile have a markedly different CFR variation profile during the COVID-19 pandemic.