Early pandemic COVID-19 case growth rates increase with city size
Andrew J. Stier, Marc G. Berman, Luís M. A. Bettencourt
Abstract
Abstract The current outbreak of COVID-19 poses an unprecedented global health and economic threat to interconnected human societies. Strategies for controlling the outbreak rely on social distancing and face covering measures which largely disconnect the social network fabric of cities. We demonstrate that early in the US outbreak, COVID-19 spread faster on average in larger cities and discuss the implications of these observations, emphasizing the need for faster responses to novel infectious diseases in larger cities.
Topics & Concepts
OutbreakSocial distanceCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)PandemicSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)2019-20 coronavirus outbreakGeographyFace (sociological concept)Economic geographyDevelopment economicsEconomic growthInfectious disease (medical specialty)VirologySociologyEconomicsMedicineSocial scienceDiseasePathologyCOVID-19 epidemiological studiesCOVID-19 Pandemic ImpactsUrban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies