Since the beginning of the pandemic in Brazil, there has been much debate regarding its impacts on different territories and social groups. This is crucial for both identifying the best ways to prevent the spread of the disease and protecting those who are most vulnerable. However, the way information and data have been released does not help analyze the territorial impacts and spatial spread of the pandemic, which also hinders efforts to address it.
In the city of São Paulo, the scale of analysis for the pandemic is still the district level, which corresponds to massive portions of the territory with populations larger than many medium-sized cities. This oversimplified view ignores the territorial heterogeneities and inequalities within the city. As we have previously pointed out, the territorial dimension is unfortunately not being properly considered, giving rise to a simplified and even stigmatized reading, such as the claim that “where there are favelas, there is a pandemic.”
