Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and COVID-19 Under the Urban Hierarchy of Municipalities in the State of Rondônia (Western Amazon)

Abstract

Analyzing the SARS data can provide insights into the severe form of COVID-19, contributing to short, medium, and long-term pandemic response planning. The virus entered Brazilian through air travel, spreading via airport connections. The spatial diffusion of COVID-19 transmission is linked to the territorial division of labor (referring to characteristic daily activities), as reflected in the urban hierarchical network, which serves as a framework for analyzing COVID-19 transmission. This analysis covers mobility aspects such as density, connectivity and the movement of people at different scales. The objective is to evaluate the transmission of SARS and COVID-19 in the state of Rondônia, Western Amazon, between 2020 and 2021, using geoprocessing techniques for spatiotemporal analysis. Maps depicting the urban hierarchy (understood as cities organized by size, from smallest to largest) of the municipalities of Rondônia, along with SARS incidence rates and their standard deviation, were created using QGIS program, version 2.18.20. Spatiotemporal analysis was conducted using Kulldorff statistics to identify clusters of SARS cases in each municipality. A higher concentration of SARS rates ​​was observed in municipalities in the northwestern part of the state. Six spatiotemporal clusters were identified, but no clear pattern of spatial distribution was observed. The spatial diffusion of COVID-19 transmission is linked to the territorial division of labor (i.e., the spatial classification based on the predominant economic activity in each area), as evidenced by the urban hierarchical network, which serves as a reference for analyzing COVID-19 transmission.

Keywords

• covid-19
• pandemics
• spatial analysis
• urban population