key: cord-0919250-7m5zqpgg authors: Ahasan, Rakibul; Hossain, Mahbub title: Leveraging GIS and spatial analysis for informed decision-making in COVID-19 pandemic date: 2020-12-09 journal: Health Policy Technol DOI: 10.1016/j.hlpt.2020.11.009 sha: 210adee1d4d876634d3bfcc782d76c8938ab6a13 doc_id: 919250 cord_uid: 7m5zqpgg • Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques are widely used across scientific disciplines, including public health since the mid-1960s; • GIS has been playing a critical role in understanding the spatial clustering and transmission trend of the ongoing COVID-19; • The Johns Hopkins University created a near-real-time GIS-based COVID-19 case tracking and documentation mechanism. • Applications of GIS in COVID-19 related studies were focused on mapping the cases on different administrative units; • GIS could be used to predict not only the confirmed case numbers but also specific locations where the outbreak would happen with a higher statistical precision. locations. These hotspot analyses helped to identify the spatial clustering of the incidences and 77 aided in identifying the clusters of vulnerable groups, regions needed immediate action, and 78 clusters of cases among fast responders and hospital workers (5). 79 Among other spatial analysis techniques, proximity analysis was used by a few studies to 80 identify the distances to the nearest health care facilities. These studies used network analysis to 81 calculate the accessibility to health care facilities and resources to determine the resiliency level 82 of any cities (8). Global and Local Moran's Index, Spatial Autocorrelation Indices, Local 83 Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) model were similarly used to determine the clusters of 84 confirmed cases or how different communities are affected by pandemic and whether there was 85 any relation between race and COVID-19 mortality rate. The study in the Chicago area was 86 found that the COVID-19 related mortality rate was much higher among the African American 87 communities, and it has a relation with minority status and language (9) . 88 Few studies also used satellite images, particulate matter concentration (NO 2 , CO, SO 2 , 89 CO 2 ), and Air Quality Index (AQI) to compare how air quality had changed during this 90 pandemic. One of the studies in China found that the usual trend of NO 2 and SO 2 concentrations 91 decrease before the festival and increase afterward was not noticed in 2020 (10). Similar studies 92 on human mobility and transportation activities found a reduction in vessel activity in the 93 lockdown period in the European Union maritime regions. Although social distancing and spatial 94 transmission is the most crucial aspect of this pandemic, GIS was not used extensively. reported cases and mobility data to project the impact of travel limitations on the national and 108 international spread of the epidemic and revealed that the Wuhan travel ban only hindered the 109 overall epidemic trajectory by 3 to 5 days in other cities of China but had a significant influence 110 on the international scale dispersion (13). As the world is going back to its previous day to day 111 activities and countries are opening its border to international travels, it would be good to use 112 spatial-modeling to predict the best and worst-case scenarios and prepare accordingly. and software platforms and made the code available to the public. 131 One of the best uses of GIS is to predict spatially explicit growth, which is still missing in 132 COVID-19 related studies. GIS has not been used widely to track the transmission pattern and 133 predict transmission at the initial stages. It is essential to leverage GIS to predict the confirmed 134 case numbers and specific locations where the outbreak would happen with higher statistical 135 precision. Although both suitability analysis and hotspot analysis were used to some extent, 136 those could be further used to identify health care facilities, as well as quarantine sites, informing 137 local and regional resource mapping and subsequent planning. However, alongside the distance 138 to the health care facilities, GIS could be employed to identify the areas underserved by the 139 existing infrastructures. Therefore, this analysis could be of immense benefit to the practitioners 140 in identifying areas that would need immediate action and eliminate service disparities (18). 141 Similarly, satellite images and processed rasters could be used in GIS to identify the changes in 142 Green House Gas (GHG) compositions, Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects and energy 143 consumption patterns, and epidemiological clusters. Such GIS-based modeling of the spatially-144 explicit numbers and growth direction may enable the policymakers to adapt context and 145 location-specific policy measure to prevent outbreaks, isolate infections, minimize community 146 transmission, enforce public health guidelines, whenever necessary. 147 Social Vulnerability and Racial Inequality in COVID-19 Deaths in 173 Health Education & Behavior: the Official Publication of the Society for Public Health 174 Education The Impact of the Control 176 Measures during the COVID-19 Outbreak on Air Pollution in China Rapid surveillance of COVID-19 in the United States 179 using a prospective space-time scan statistic: Detecting and evaluating emerging clusters Daily surveillance of COVID-19 using 182 the prospective space-time scan statistic in the United States. Spatial and Spatio-temporal 183 Epidemiology The effect of 185 travel restrictions on the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak Progress in the R ecosystem for representing and handling spatial data An introduction to R for spatial analysis and mapping: Sage Implementing functions for spatial statistical analysis using the 192 language Opening practice: supporting reproducibility and critical spatial 194 data science Geographic 196 access to COVID-19 healthcare in Brazil using a balanced float catchment area approach