Highlights
- A case series suggests that Coronavirus appears to remain highly transmissible even in warm and humid environments.
- The case series involves nine patients who went to the same bath center in Huai’an City and tested positive for the virus days later.
- The bath center they visited featured high temperatures and humidity levels, greater than most city averages.
- There is not enough evidence to prove that each patient contracted the virus from the same facility, although there is a good chance that they did.
Introduction
A new study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) seems to suggest that the virus that causes the disease known as COVID-19 remains highly transmissible even in warm and humid environments.
This may come as a surprise to some, especially when prior reports indicate that the virus, and others like it, showed a diminished capacity for patient-to-patient transmission in environments with high temperature and humidity.
The newer study released by JAMA revolves around a specific case series of nine individuals in Huai’an, a city in Jiangsu Province, which is approximately 600 km northeast of Wuhan. Wuhan is known as the epicenter of the pandemic.
Huai’an Case Series
The Huai’an case series involves nine healthy male patients between the ages of 24 and 50. Each of them had a history of visiting the same bath center in the city.
The index patient traveled to Wuhan before visiting the bath center on January 18, 2020. He had no symptoms when he went to the facility. However, two days later, he reported a high-grade fever and was later tested positive for the virus on January 25, 2020.
Seven other male individuals visited the same bath center between January 19 and 24, 2020. All seven of whom reported COVID-19 symptoms within six to nine days of their visit. An eighth individual, who was a member of staff at the facility, also reported the onset of their symptoms on January 30, 2020.
All eight tested positive for the virus between February 3 and 4, 2020. None of them required respiratory support.
The Bath Center
The bath center the patients visited had ambient temperatures of 25 to 41 degrees Celsius and humidity levels of 60 percent. This is higher than the average for most cities around the world.
What This Means
Because of the limited scope of the case series, it is entirely possible that each succeeding patient after the index case was exposed to Coronavirus outside the bath center. Nevertheless, this study is a clear demonstration of the great danger posed by the virus. This is further aggravated by the spread of misinformation and false assumptions.
The index patient had travel history from Wuhan, but because he was experiencing no symptoms, he felt he was in the clear to visit a bath center. All of the succeeding patients were otherwise healthy before their exposure to the disease. The environment they were in also suggests that the virus is not bound by environmental factors.
Clearly, had the index patient exercised caution, knowing he might be a possible carrier, this entire event could have been prevented. Had the succeeding patients not visited the bath center during the time of an outbreak, they might have not fallen ill.
To have any chance of combating this invisible killer, we must all remain vigilant. Stay at home, practice good hygiene, and arm yourself with the latest and most accurate information regarding the disease.
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