CARTOGRAFIA TEMÁTICA DA DISTRIBUIÇÃO ESPACIAL DA COVID-19 EM SANTA CATARINA, SUL DO BRASIL, NO PRIMEIRO ANO DE PANDEMIA.

The territorial diffusion of SARS-CoV-2 in Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil, made by the monthly mapping of the spatial distribution of confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19, by municipality, in the first year of pandemic in the State. In a Geographic Information System (GIS), monthly data on cases and deaths were integrated into a cartographic base of the municipalities of Santa Catarina State, where the spatial distribution of the disease was analyzed and mapped. The study analyzed monthly variations in spatial distribution patterns of the new coronavirus in Santa Catarina State, by examining monthly expansions and retractions in the numbers of confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19. The dynamics of monthly variations in the spatial distribution of the disease allowed us to recognize that the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Santa Catarina State, in the first year of the pandemic, started on the coast, soon interiorized, showed months of viral expansion and retraction, but deepened until March 2021. The temporal thematic cartography proved to be efficient as an information additional means to the spreadsheets generated by the systematic survey of occurrence data in each municipality of Santa Catarina. It also became fundamental support for the information of the phenomenon's territorial diffusion to citizens which, added to the mitigation policies presented by public managers, determined in different times the rules of restriction, isolation or permission of social activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]