Regional aspects of dissemination of COVID-19 in the urban network of Immediate Geographic Region of Açailândia, Maranhão, Brazil

Abstract

The present work aims to understand the dynamics of the spread of COVID-19 in the urban network of the Immediate Geographical Region of Açailândia (RGIA), Maranhão, Brazil. The period of analysis comprises the first year of the pandemic to be counted from the first case registered in Maranhão (from March 20, 2020 to March 20, 2021). This is a more empirical spatial analysis, anchored in the systematization of secondary and public quantitative data, followed by a qualitative. The analysis considers the distribution of medical specialties and medical and hospital equipment in the geographic region as a driving element of circulation in search of care for patients with COVID-19 in the urban network between the centers. Three main databases are used for the research: Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Health Department of the State of Maranhão and Information Technology Department of the Unified Brazilian Health System (DATASUS). The data suggest that the rarefied and concentrated supply of health services among the municipalities that make up the region drives flows of passersby in search of care and it reproduces, to some extent, the hierarchy patterns of the urban-regional network, promoting expansion of the contagion area, inaccuracies as to the origin of contagion and concentration of deaths in the main regional center.