The WMO hosted a webinar today (January 12) as part of a technical review process of the draft statement on meteorological and air quality factors affecting the Covid-19 pandemic.
The statement, which is open to scientific review until January 22, was drafted as part of the work of the WMO Covid-19 Research Task Team, established in June 2020 to respond to the real-time challenge of providing Covid-19 decision-relevant knowledge about weather, solar radiation and air pollution.
The 16-member Task Team comprises infectious disease and meteorological experts, who have been charged with several activities, including the provision of periodic assessments of the state of knowledge of meteorological and air quality factors affecting Covid-19. It is widely accepted that meteorological and climatological factors are currently not the main drivers behind the pandemic.
The final published statement is expected in February, and will be updated periodically in 2021 to address additional questions and evolving knowledge. They aim to:
- Clearly and rapidly synthesize evidence from the latest published science on meteorological, solar radiation and air quality drivers related to Covid-19.
- Support WMO members with sound information on the linkages and mechanisms between Covid-19 and key meteorological and air quality variables in support of disease prediction efforts, population dynamics, behavioral studies, transmission studies, infection control and public health interventions etc.
- Identify and clearly articulate knowledge gaps and uncertainties, as well as good practices in integrated climate and health modeling.
The Task Team’s activities follow the Symposium on Climatological, Meteorological and Environmental Factors in the Covid-19 Pandemic, held in August 2020. This led to the publication of a framework for research, which is meant to lay out a checklist to encourage good practice in research and communication.
Further information and registration details are here.