Editorial from Dr. Christian Brechot and Dr. Robert Gallo

The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic is spreading and has become a pandemic with a major impact on national health systems and economics, as well as population behaviors. Delineating the future of the pandemic expansion and the geographical areas which will be hit has important consequences as to the capacity to be prepared and take adequate measures to curb the viral dissemination. The progress of science and in particular of mathematical modeling has now offered this possibility. The Global Virus Network, with its fifty four research centers worldwide, has been supporting such initiative. In the posted article from Dr Mohammad M. Sajadi and Dr. Anthony Amoroso, working at the Institute of Human Virology and Global Virus Network, University of Maryland, and other colleagues, the scientists suggest that weather modeling can explain the spread of the virus until now, and that it may be possible to predict the regions most likely to be at higher risk of significant community spread of COVID-19 in the upcoming weeks. This might allow to better focus the public health efforts on surveillance and containment. Clearly, beside climate variables, there are multiple factors to be considered when dealing with a pandemic, such as human population densities and human factors, viral genetic evolution and pathogenesis. Thus those predictions should be considered with caution. Yet this work exactly illustrates how networking activities and science, as provided by the Global Virus Network, can contribute to curbing the infectious threats.

Robert Gallo

Co-Founder & International Scientific Advisor, Global Virus Network

Co-founder & Director, Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Christian Bréchot

President Global Virus network

Professor University of South Florida