We’re thrilled to celebrate the recent successes of our colleague, András Igari, who had the opportunity to share his expertise on international platforms. He presented his research about the patterns of spread of Coronavirus and pandemic-related information in Europe.

From August 28th to September 1st, 2023, András participated in the 62nd ERSA Conference held in Alicante, Spain. During this event, he delivered a presentation titled “Pandemic and Infodemic Diffusion – Spatiotemporal Patterns of Coronavirus Spread and Pandemic-Related Information in Europe“. In this presentation, András explored the spatiotemporal pattern of the two phenomena – the COVID-19 pandemic and the infodemic related to it in Europe. Our colleague presented relations between these two diffusion processes and geographical factors that may have influenced them. While during the first wave, the Western and Southern European metropolitan areas (those most connected to international networks) were most affected by the Coronavirus, in the later waves, other regions (East-Central European, semi-peripheral, badly governed regions with unfavourable socio-economic situation) affected mainly by the pandemic. Part of the reason for this change may have been the spread of information about the COVID-19. In the first wave, information spread faster than the virus itself. This allowed more time for preparation in the East-Central European countries and have helped to mitigate the effects of the first wave.

From 4th to 7th September 2023, our colleague participated in 9th EUGEO Conference in Barcelona, Spain. In his presentation entitled “The role of information diffusion in the control of COVID-19 pandemic”, András presented that the spread of information about the pandemic was less important after spring 2020, in the later waves. It was characterised by smaller spikes and probably did not play as important a role in the control of the pandemic as it did during the first wave. However, the spread of vaccination may have been facilitated by the spread of information about it, which indirectly contributed to the success of the control of the pandemic.

The two abstracts of our colleague are available here:

https://az659834.vo.msecnd.net/eventsairwesteuprod/production-ersa-public/0c42542f56fa44a4b2e9c2821112ae48 (page 379)

https://www.eugeobcn23.eu/1258-553-the-role-of-information-diffusion-in-the-control-of-covid-19-pandemic-andras-igari/