The “second wave” of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Arctic: regional and temporal dynamics

• Published in: International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Main Authors: Andrey N. Petrov, Mark Welford, Nikolay Golosov, John DeGroote, Michele Devlin, Tatiana Degai, Alexander Savelyev
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2021
• Subjects: covid-19; arctic; regions; pandemic; trends; mortality; waves; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; Canada; Faroe Islands; Greenland; Norway; Circumpolar Health; Iceland; International Journal of Circumpolar Health; Northern Finland; Northern Norway; Northern Sweden; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2021.1925446; https://doaj.org/article/e27d604212674d88bf31fe8e2092722c

This article focuses on the “second wave” of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Arctic and examines spatiotemporal patterns between July 2020 and January 2021. We analyse available COVID-19 data at the regional (subnational) level to elucidate patterns and typology of Arctic regions with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article builds upon our previous research that examined the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic between February and July 2020. The pandemic’s “second wave” observed in the Arctic between September 2020 and January 2021 was severe in terms of COVID-19 infections and fatalities, having particularly strong impacts in Alaska, Northern Russia and Northern Sweden. Based on the spatiotemporal patterns of the “second wave” dynamics, we identified 5 types of the pandemic across regions: Shockwaves (Iceland, Faroe Islands, Northern Norway, and Northern Finland), Protracted Waves (Northern Sweden), Tidal Waves (Northern Russia), Tsunami Waves (Alaska), and Isolated Splashes (Northern Canada and Greenland). Although data limitations and gaps persist, monitoring of COVID-19 is critical for developing a proper understanding of the pandemic in order to develop informed and effective responses to the current crisis and possible future pandemics in the Arctic. Data used in this paper are available at https://arctic.uni.edu/arctic-covid-19.