VALES REGION - RS: AN OBSERVATION OF THE TERRITORIAL DISPERSION OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the spatial pattern of the territorial dispersion dynamics of Covid-19 in the Vales-RS region. With a qualitative approach and using secondary data collected from official agencies, from March 20 to July 17, 2020, related to the dispersion of the Covid-19 pandemic in the region, the article seeks to identify possible relationships between this dynamics and the structure and functioning of the regional urban network, with the economic structure and the territorial division of regional labor. In addition, intraregional spatial interactions led by the main economic and service centers in the Valleys region, the medium cities of Lajeado and Santa Cruz do Sul were considered. It was observed that the dynamics of territorial dispersion of Covid-19 in the Valleys region, in Rio Grande do Sul, presents characteristics similar to those observed in other regions and cities in Brazil and abroad, but it also reveals particularities among the sub-regions that constitute it, related to the uses of the territory.