The role of meteorological and air quality factors in moderating the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and severity of COVID-19 is a critical topic as an opportunity for targeted intervention and relevant public health messaging. Studies conducted in early 2020 suggested that temperature, humidity, ultraviolet radiation, and other meteorological factors have an influence on the transmissibility and viral dynamics of COVID-19. Previous reviews of the literature have found significant heterogeneity in associations but did not examine many factors relating to epidemiological quality of the analyses such as rigor of data collection and statistical analysis, or consideration of potential confounding factors. To provide greater insight into the current state of the literature from an epidemiological standpoint, the authors conducted a rapid descriptive analysis with a strong focus on the characterization of COVID-19 health outcomes and use of controls for confounding social and demographic variables such as population movement and age. We have found that few studies adequately considered the challenges posed by the use of governmental reporting of laboratory testing as a proxy for disease transmission, including timeliness and consistency. In addition, very few studies attempted to control for confounding factors, including timing and implementation of public health interventions and metrics of population compliance with those interventions. Ongoing research should give greater consideration to the measures used to quantify COVID-19 transmission and health outcomes as well as how to control for the confounding influences of public health measures and personal behaviors.

中文翻译：

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关于气象和空气质量因素以及 COVID-19 的科学文献的描述性分析

气象和空气质量因素在减缓 SARS-CoV-2 传播和 COVID-19 严重性方面的作用是一个关键主题，是有针对性的干预和相关公共卫生信息传递的机会。2020 年初进行的研究表明，温度、湿度、紫外线辐射和其他气象因素对 COVID-19 的传播能力和病毒动力学有影响。先前的文献综述发现了显着的关联异质性，但没有检查与分析的流行病学质量相关的许多因素，例如数据收集和统计分析的严谨性，或考虑潜在的混杂因素。为了从流行病学的角度更深入地了解文献的现状，作者进行了快速描述性分析，重点关注 COVID-19 健康结果的特征以及控制混淆社会和人口变量（如人口流动和年龄）的使用。我们发现，很少有研究充分考虑使用政府报告的实验室检测作为疾病传播的代理所带来的挑战，包括及时性和一致性。此外，很少有研究试图控制混杂因素，包括公共卫生干预措施的时间和实施以及人口对这些干预措施的依从性指标。