Panorama socioambiental da COVID-19: enfoque no Rio Grande do Sul e suas regiões

Abstract

The spread of COVID-19 affected the population in a heterogeneous way, impacting different sectors of society. The worsening of social inequalities between countries and within themselves, during the pandemic, mainly affected emerging economies, such as Brazil. Social impacts, such as increased unemployment, hunger, deficits in education, and environmental impacts, such as changes in atmospheric quality, were observed in different parts of the world. This study's main objective was to provide a socio-environmental overview of this pandemic, transcending national limits (Brazil), but with a main focus on the state of Rio Grande do Sul, based on three distinct stages. The data used in this study are of secondary origin and freely accessible. Stage 1 carried out a bibliometric and systematic analysis of research on COVID-19 from the Web of Science database, in the broad area of Environmental Sciences. 51 articles were found in the search, published in 10 journals, by 232 authors from different countries. The articles analyzed dealt with different themes, such as education, health, technology, social behavior, all of which addressed the social impacts generated by the pandemic. In stage 2, a spatial analysis was carried out, through the preparation of thematic maps of the socio-demographic profile, geographic distribution and socio environmental characteristics of the regions of the state of Rio Grande do Sul affected by COVID-19 until the start of vaccination at national level, in addition of spatial correlation between the state's regional capitals. It was found that, in the nine Functional Planning Regions, the population most infected by COVID-19 in the state was the white population between 30 and 39, which is the majority of the population inhabiting the state. It was found that, in the nine Functional Planning Regions, the population most infected by COVID-19 in the state was the white population between 30 and 39, which is the majority of the population inhabiting the state. Regarding the evolution of cases, more than 95% of those infected recovered from the disease. Among the regional capitals, there is evidence that the population, municipalities, color of the population, age group, sex, evolution of cases and basic sanitation indicators are related between municipalities. In stage 3, a spatial and comparative analysis was carried out of the prevalence of cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in Rio Grande do Sul in relation to ozone gas concentrations during restrictive measures in 2020 in the municipalities of Porto Alegre and Caxias do Sul. It was possible to verify that the increase and decline in cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 behaved in a similar way in the municipalities, as well as the variation in ozone concentrations. However, more detailed studies on this topic are needed to corroborate this study. Although COVID-19 is no longer characterized as a pandemic, it is necessary to continue research to better understand how it spread and the impacts that resulted from it and may still be experienced. With the results obtained through the articles, it is hoped to be able to contribute to existing literature and future research so that the population is served in the best possible way, both by the public and private sectors, and suffers the least possible impact with future health crises and impacts generated by them.