Características regionais e os impactos da COVID-19 em Minas Gerais

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, exposed and deepened socioeconomic inequalities across Brazil, manifesting unevenly among regions and municipalities. In the state of Minas Gerais, the analysis of Geographic Intermediate Regions shows that the spread and impacts of the disease were heterogeneous, shaped by economic and demographic conditions, urban structure, and the capacity of local health systems. This study aims to examine the relationship between COVID-19 cases and deaths and municipal characteristics across the 13 intermediate regions of Minas Gerais from March 2020 to December 2022. The research is based on a literature review and the analysis of official data, considering variables such as population density, socioeconomic inequality, per capita health investment, and urban centrality. The results indicate that regions with higher population density, greater social inequality, and limited health system capacity were more vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic. Conversely, municipalities with higher health investment and stronger hospital infrastructure demonstrated a greater ability to mitigate mortality over the study period. The findings suggest that the pandemic in Minas Gerais followed patterns similar to those observed nationally, underscoring the need for place-based public policies focused on reducing structural inequalities and strengthening regional health systems to better address future public health crises.