The extreme heat that’s been making its way across the D.C. region in the last few weeks is causing many people to remain indoors, which one virus expert said is a factor facilitating the spread of respiratory viruses like COVID-19.
Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said respiratory infections are starting to increase in other parts of the country, largely driven by an increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
While the D.C. region isn’t currently experiencing similar trends, he said, “some of the early indicators, such as case positivity and some emergency room visits for COVID, are starting to tick up, so I’m guessing we’re probably also expecting a small surge coming here, too.”
During the summer, Pekosz said influenza and RSV essentially “go away,” because there are few cases of those infections. But COVID-19 never reached that stage, he said.
“We’re always seeing low numbers, but significant numbers around,” Pekosz said. “What that means is when conditions are more ripe for transmission, you have more infected people around to start the surge, and therefore, the surge sort of picks up steam much faster than it does with viruses like RSV and influenza.”
The recent high temperatures and humid conditions aren’t ideal for virus transmission, but Pekosz said when people spend more time inside because of the weather, “then you’re sort of seeing a different environment for respiratory viruses, which is a little bit more conducive to spread.”
The combination of people staying inside and more transmissible variants is resulting in people getting sick this summer, according to Pekosz.
“Some people are turning on fans or standing in front of air blowers, which can sometimes make you feel better in terms of the temperature … oftentimes, not the perfect way that you want to limit the spread of respiratory viruses,” Pekosz said. “You don’t want to have an infected person standing in front of a wind source that will take the virus they’re breathing out and push it vertically across a room.”
While public health officials are monitoring COVID-19 cases and other respiratory illnesses, Pekosz said “the most important parameter for us right now is emergency room visits.”
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