Geographical reflections on the lethality of the new Coronavirus in the peripheries of Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil

Abstract

In view of the high levels of income inequality, access to services and housing infrastructure in Brazil, several studies and researchers pointed out, even before the pandemic situation presented itself in the country, a range of reasons to observe a disproportionate effect of COVID-19 among the most vulnerable populations, an effect observed mainly in large capitals such as Fortaleza, the 5th largest in Brazil. Whether due to the greater difficulty of maintaining social isolation, motivated by the need to obtain essential resources for survival, or by the lack of adequate housing, often composed of small rooms occupied by several family members, or by the difficulty of access to health services and precariousness at work, more and more present in Brazil, it became possible to trace connections between the socioeconomic characteristics and the higher lethality of COVID-19 in the neighborhoods occupied by the most vulnerable population in the city of Fortaleza, object of this reflection.