COVID-19 SPATIAL CIRCULATION THROUGH THE SLAUGHTERHOUSES IN THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST PARÁ: SPATIAL IMPACTS OF AN "ESSENTIAL ACTIVITY" IN THE MIDST OF A PANDEMIC

Abstract

Considered an essential activity, the production coming from slaughterhouses did not stop its activities in the midst of the new coronavirus pandemics (SARS COV-19) in Brazil. South and Southeast regions of Pará are examples of how such activity is associated to the worldwide production circuit. Nevertheless, the spatial circulation of the supplies coming from the slaughterhouses becomes one of the covid-19 transmission vectors, due to the intense mobility of workers in the sector. By taking into consideration the spatial circulation as the main approach in the dissemination of the pandemic through slaughterhouses, this work aimed at understanding the impact of the spatial circulation of goods and people linked to the slaughterhouses in the dissemination and prominence of Covid-19 cases in the South and Southeast Pará. The methodology presented is based on graphical and cartographic representations in addition to the statistical procedures with data of cases and deaths confirmed by Covid-19, social isolation rate, volume in dollar of meat exports, formal work bonds in cattle slaughter and cattle herd, as well as the decrees from the State of Pará and from the municipal governments. Even though the results are not determinant, they point to production conditions in slaughterhouses and to the spatial circulation imposed by the activity in the propagation of Covid-19 in the South and Southeast regions of Pará. Social distancing is harmed in municipalities that are strong in the activity, so that, in the composition of the formal work, causing an increase in the indexes of confirmed cases and deaths from complications of the disease.