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A comment on Surviving the coronavirus, then testing positive again. Parent comment

Re:Surviving the coronavirus, then testing positive again by mellavora on Friday March 13, 2020 @01:01PM (#22568916)
Careful. You are correct, but incomplete. It is ABSOLUTE humidity which matters, not relative humidity.

Absolute humidity (the amount of water in the air) is low in winter because cold air doesn't hold as much moisture.

Relative humidity does not depend on temperature since it is a ratio of the absolute humidity to the max absolute humidity at the given temperature.

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Re:Surviving the coronavirus, then testing positive again by sampo on Friday March 13, 2020 @01:42PM (#22569232)
> It is ABSOLUTE humidity which matters, not relative humidity.

This 2019 paper says that (i) in higher relative humidity, the fine droplets stay larger (larger size after evaporation down to the equilibrium size, given by Kelvin equation) and thus linger in the air for a shorter time. And (ii) higher temperatures, virus proteins denaturate a bit faster. The compound effect of higher relative humidity and higher temperature then makes it look like it correlates to higher absolute humidity.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsif.201...

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