COVID-19 New Cases and Environmental Factors During Wet and Dry Seasons in West and Southern Africa

G S Jenkins; S M Freire; T Ogunro; D Niang; M Andrade; M S Drame; J B Huvi; E E S Pires; E N Toure; M Camara

doi:10.1029/2022GH000765

COVID-19 New Cases and Environmental Factors During Wet and Dry Seasons in West and Southern Africa

Geohealth. 2023 Jul 29;7(8):e2022GH000765. doi: 10.1029/2022GH000765. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

G S Jenkins¹, S M Freire², T Ogunro³, D Niang⁴, M Andrade², M S Drame⁴, J B Huvi⁵, E E S Pires⁶, E N Toure⁷, M Camara⁸

Affiliations

¹ Alliance for Education, Science, Engineering and Design with Africa (AESEDA) Pennsylvania State University University Park PA USA.
² University of Cabo Verde Praia Cape Verde.
³ Lead City University Ibadan Nigeria.
⁴ Cheikh Anta Diop University Dakar Senegal.
⁵ Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação de Benguela - Angola Benguela Angola.
⁶ Centro de Estudos e Pesquisa do Tundavala Engineering Department ISPTundavala Lubango Angola.
⁷ University Felix Houphouet Biogny Abidjan Cote D'Ivorie.
⁸ University of Assane Seck Ziguinchor Senegal.

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa has been the last continent to experience a significant number of cases in the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Studies suggest that air pollution is related to COVID-19 mortality; poor air quality has been linked to cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory diseases, which are considered co-morbidities linked to COVID-19 deaths. We examine potential connections between country-wide COVID-19 cases and environmental conditions in Senegal, Cabo Verde, Nigeria, Cote D'Ivorie, and Angola. We analyze PM_2.5 concentrations, temperatures from cost-effective in situ measurements, aerosol optical depth (AOD), and fire count and NO₂ column values from space-borne platforms from 1 January 2020 through 31 March 2021. Our results show that the first COVID-19 wave in West Africa began during the wet season of 2020, followed by a second during the dry season of 2020. In Angola, the first wave starts during the biomass burning season but does not peak until November of 2020. Overall PM_2.5 concentrations are the highest in Ibadan, Nigeria, and coincided with the second wave of COVID-19 in late 2021 and early 2022. The COVID-19 waves in Cabo Verde are not in phase with those in Senegal, Nigeria, and Cote, lagging by several months in general. Overall, the highest correlations occurred between weekly new COVID-19 cases meteorological and air quality variables occurred in the dry season.

Keywords: COVID‐19; Southern Africa; West Africa; dry season; environmental factors; wet season.