It seems that way. Here's another analysis of studies that focused on indoor humidity.
>"If the relative humidity of indoor air is below 40 percent, the particles emitted by infected people absorb less water, remain lighter, fly further through the room and are more likely to be inhaled by healthy people. In addition, dry air also makes the mucous membranes in our noses dry and more permeable to viruses," summarizes Dr. Ajit Ahlawat.
Just to be clear, that's about the original SARS, not the novel coronavirus (COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2). I don't know of any studies about the effects of temperature and humidity on how long the current virus survives on surfaces.
"The dried virus on smooth surfaces retained its viability for over 5 days at temperatures of 22–25°C and relative humidity of 40–50%, that is, typical air-conditioned environments."
From TFA: "It's also fine in humidities above 98%, which you find in the rainy season in the tropics," she says, where the conditions outside resemble the environment the virus finds in the body.
The suggestion that managing indoor humidity[1,2] (even hanging wet towels, as the author suggests) could improve covid resistance seems to make sense. Are there any covid-specific studies to support it?
The study uses relative humidity, which is affected by the dew point. While straight humidity is often consistent at least in the US, relative humidity fluctuates wildly. Relative humidity is what gives the muginess feel. Most of the US except the Rockies and most of the West Coast have way higher relative humidity in the summer months. NYC can get especially bad (or good in this case). In the South, that increase has already started.
Admittedly, it's not a huge affect, but taking your NYC example, the temperature alone will decrease the R0 by at least .5. I'll take that.
Seems strange given the fact that I've seen numerous academic papers shared over the last few months indicating that hot weather and high humidity do indeed have some kind of effect on the virus's transmission.
We really should be increasing humidity in hospitals and offices in the winter. Newer planes have already been moving in that direction (to increase comfort).
I've read several articles on this over the last few days. The consensus is that we don't know yet if heat and/or humidity reduce transmission of Covid-19 in any meaningful way. But it is certainly possible it will be suppressed in warmer or more humid weather as is the case for many similar viruses.
This take has held up pretty well. Look at how much more mid-range NYC is humidity-wise than the others:
https://twitter.com/JeromeRoos/status/1236733607902937089
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