A top scientist from the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that preliminary research shows that the coronavirus dies out more quickly in hot, humid weather than in colder, drier conditions.
“Increasing the temperature and humidity … is generally less favorable to the virus,” said William Bryan, head of science and technology at DHS, said during the daily Coronavirus Task Force daily briefing at the White House.
Bryan said the preliminary study showed that the half life of the virus was lower at higher temperatures and humidity than in colder weather.
“If you look as the temperature increases, as the humidity increases, no sun involved, you can see how drastically the half-life goes down on the virus. So it’s dying in a much more rapid pace [with] just exposure to higher temperatures and to humidity,” Bryan continued.
But he also said that it dissipates more quickly in sunlight than in the dark because ultraviolet light helps kill the bug.
The DHS scientists said that disinfectants and household bleach were also extremely effective in killing the virus.
President Trump welcomed the news and predicted that more people would be willing to venture outdoors in the late spring and summer when the weather warms up.
The president also speculated that bombarding human bodies with light could be effective, as well as perhaps injecting disinfectants into the lungs — moves Bryan downplayed.
“So, suppose we heat the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it,” Trump said, apparently referring to an earlier conversation with Bryan.
“And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can either do through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you were going to test that too. Sounds interesting,” he continued before asking about an “injection” of “disinfectant” into patients.
“And then I see the disinfectant, [which] knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning … It’ll be interesting to check that,” the president said although that notion was quickly discounted.
Dr. Deborah Birx said later she had also not seen any evidence that bombarding a patient with light would be effective.
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