The Neighborhood Contagion Focus as a Spatial Unit for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Action against COVID-19 Contagion in Urban Spaces: A Methodological Proposal for Its Detection and Delimitation

María-Jesús Perles, Juan F. Sortino and Matías F. Mérida
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María-Jesús Perles: Department of Geography, Area of Physical Geography, University of Malaga, 29010 Málaga, Spain
Juan F. Sortino: Physical Geography and Territory Research Group of the University of Málaga, 29010 Málaga, Spain
Matías F. Mérida: Department of Geography, Regional Geographic Analysis Area, University of Málaga, 29010 Malaga, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-24

Abstract: The concept of neighborhood contagion focus is defined and justified as a basic spatial unit for epidemiological diagnosis and action, and a specific methodological procedure is provided to detect and map focuses and micro-focuses of contagion without using regular or artificial spatial units. The starting hypothesis is that the contagion in urban spaces manifests unevenly in the form of clusters of cases that are generated and developed by neighborhood contagion. Methodologically, the spatial distribution of those infected in the study area, the city of Málaga (Spain), is firstly analyzed from the disaggregated and anonymous address information. After defining the concept of neighborhood contagion focus and justifying its morphological parameters, a method to detect and map neighborhood contagion focus in urban settings is proposed and applied to the study case. As the main results, the existence of focuses and micro-focuses in the spatial pattern of contagion is verified. Focuses are considered as an ideal spatial analysis unit, and the advantages and potentialities of the use of mapping focus as a useful tool for health and territorial management in different phases of the epidemic are shown.

Keywords: focus of contagion; urban spaces; COVID-19; cartography; spatial pattern; micro-data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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