The complex interplay between weather, social activity, and COVID-19 in the US.

ABSTRACT: Empirical studies on the impact of weather and policy interventions on Covid-19 infections have dedicated little attention to the mediation role of social activity. In this study, we combine mobile locations, weather, and COVID-19 data in a two-way fixed effects mediation model to estimate the impact of weather and policy interventions on the COVID-19 infection rate in the US before the availability of vaccines, disentangling their direct impact from the part of the effect that is mediated by the endogenous response of social activity. We show that, while temperature reduces viral infectiousness, it also increases the amount of time individuals spend out of home, which instead favours the spread of the virus. This second channel substantially attenuates the beneficial effect of temperature

SUBMITTER: Ferro S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10225063 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature