Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/230219 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Citation: 
[Journal:] Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie [ISSN:] 1467-9663 [Volume:] 111 [Issue:] 3 [Publisher:] Wiley [Place:] Hoboken, NJ [Year:] 2020 [Pages:] 482-496
Publisher: 
Wiley, Hoboken, NJ
Abstract: 
This paper argues that outbreaks of infectious diseases should be understood as socio-spatial processes with complex geographies. Considering the different dimensions of space through which an outbreak unfolds, facilitates analysing spatial diffusion of infectious disease in contemporary societies. We attempt to highlight four relevant dimensions of space by applying the TPSN framework to the case of the recent COVID-19 outbreak in Germany. By identifying key processes of disease diffusion in space, we can explain the spatial patterns of the COVID-19 outbreak in Germany, which did not feature the well-known patterns of spatially contagious as in or hierarchical diffusion. In contrast, we find superspreading events and especially relocation diffusion based on existing networks, on which the pathogen travelled like a blind passenger, to be more relevant. For us, these findings prove the value of combining relational thinking with geographic analysis for understanding epidemic outbreaks in contemporary societies. This paper argues that outbreaks of infectious diseases should be understood as socio-spatial processes with complex geographies. By analyzing the early weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak in Germany in 2020, we highlight the relevance of superspreading events and especially relocation diffusion based on existing networks, on which the pathogen travelled like a blind passenger.
Subjects: 
Infectious Disease
COVID‐19
Health Geography
TPSN
Disease Diffusion
Germany
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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