Weather and its potential impact on how COVID-19 behaves has remained a consistent focus since the outbreak erupted. 

Texas Border Business

AccuWeather Global Weather Center – The coronavirus Pandemic brought the world to a halt in the early part of 2020. After emerging in China’s Hubei province in late 2019, the number of cases skyrocketed and infected more than 1 million worldwide over a four-month span with the epicenter shifting from Asia to Europe and, as of late March, the United States.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the outbreak a pandemic on March 11. The virus, called SARS-CoV-2, causes a disease known as COVID-19, and as the number of cases escalated, government officials took drastic measures to slow the spread, ordering various forms of travel restrictions including total lockdowns in some places.

As residents stayed shuttered indoors, major metropolitan areas from Los Angeles to New York City to Paris and Rome have transformed into ghost towns. Infectious disease experts have stressed there is much to be learned about the virus, including whether there will be a seasonal correlation to a rise or decline in confirmed infections or how weather and UV radiation can impact the spread.

Here are the latest updates, listed in eastern time, and the most important things you need to know about coronavirus.

April 8, 9:30 a.m.

Figures reported by New York City’s health department show that today, there have been nearly 43 COVID-19 deaths for every 100,000 men in the city compared to 23 deaths for every 100,000 women, as reported by the New York Times. Men are also being hospitalized with severe cases of the disease at higher rates. The same holds true for rates in Italy and China, but although several different explanations have surfaced from differences in biology to smoking rates, none have been proven.

“I’m in the emergency room, and it’s remarkable — I’d estimate that 80 percent of the patients being brought in are men,” Dr. Hani Sbitany, a reconstructive surgeon at Mount Sinai Health System who has been treating victims told the Times. “It’s four out of five patients.”

April 8, 8:38 a.m.

With warmer weather already kicking in across parts of the country and summer right around the corner, are U.S. utility companies ready for changes in energy consumption due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic? As AccuWeather’s John Roach reports, the answer isn’t so cut and dry. Read his full report here.

April 8, 7 a.m.

Tuesday marked one of the bleakest days yet for the United States since the beginning of the pandemic. As the country nears the 400,000 case mark, here are the latest updated global totals from Johns Hopkins University:

• Total confirmed cases: 1,441,128
• Total deaths: 82,992
• Total recoveries: 307,819

In the United States, over 33,000 new cases were reported on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the world and on the opposite side of the spectrum, Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic crisis, had its lockdown lifted on Wednesday. After 76 days, residents are now allowed to leave the city by trains and flights.

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