FLOWS AND DISPERSION OF COVID-19 IN THE IMMEDIATE GEOGRAPHIC REGION OF TIMON, MARANHÃO, BRAZIL

Abstract

This work aims to discuss the dynamics of the spread of covid-19 from the flows of people in search of medical and hospital care in the urban network of the Immediate Geographic Region of Timon. The time frame corresponds to the period of one year, from the first case of covid-19 registered in Maranhão. The analysis considers that the selectivity of health services in the municipalities of Maranhão contributes to the creation of an intense network of connections and contagion driven by the circulation of people directed to medical care in the urban network. This is a quantitative research, followed by a qualitative examination of the data, extracted mainly from the databases of the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System, the Health Department of the State of Maranhão and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The data refer to medical and hospital equipment, medical units and human resources, considered as drivers of the movement of people during the covid-19 pandemic. The results suggest that the density of health services within the region drives flows of passersby in search of care, reproducing the hierarchy patterns of the urban-regional network and promoting inaccuracies regarding the origin of contagion and the concentration of deaths in the main regional center.