Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Gauteng

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck South Africa in March 2020, the GCRO worked quickly and collaboratively to compile data and visualisations to help inform disaster response planning. We focussed on the spatial distribution of some key risks and vulnerabilities in communities at a ward level. This was based on the framework of syndemics, which examines the consequences of epidemics as they interact with other diseases, in conjunction with social, environmental and economic factors facilitating their spread, and in turn compounding their impact. See here and here for useful articles that explain this framework.

As an initial response GCRO dedicated its March 2020 Map of the Month to understanding the localised risk factors that might contribute to the spread of COVID-19, and might amplify its health and socio-economic impact, in Gauteng communities. Specifically, the maps explored two key themes: (1) the multiple risk factors to maintaining basic preventative hygiene and social distancing; and (2) the multiple risk factors in the context of major shutdowns and potential outbreaks.

The work continued beyond this initial Map of the Month publication. Over 2020 and 2021 we deepened our analysis by exploring key considerations such density, risk factors in relation to household composition, and – very significantly – the prevalence of COVID-19 in different parts of the population in light of demographic factors such as gender and age. With access to geocoded address data of COVID-19 cases, we also helped map hotspots for the Gauteng Provincial Government, and helped to track outbreaks in long term care facilities such as old age homes. Over time, we turned attention to related matters, such as understanding the economic consequences of COVID-19 (mainly using QoL 6 (2020/21) data); dissecting the structures, systems and practices that government instituted to respond to the pandemic; and examining the impact of COVID on vulnerable groups (inter alia for South Africa's National COVID-19 Country Report: First Edition).

Updates (as at October 2022)

In early 2022 GCRO was approached by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases of South Africa (NICD) to contribute to a Water Research Commission-funded project to explore the relationship between levels of SARS-CoV-2 detectable in wastewater and population health during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to develop a use case for using wastewater data to understand the dynamics of communicable diseases in urban areas. The project, being run closely in partnership with the NICD, is now well underway with the development maps, models and field sampling protocols.

In late 2020 and early 2021, Rob Moore and Graeme Gotz wrote a chapter of a Gauteng Provincial Government requested 'deep dive' case study on Gauteng’s response to COVID-19. Permission has now been obtained to publish the work online as a GCRO rapid research paper. It is available here.

A journal article co-authored by Graeme Gotz, Dr Rob Moore and Prof. Phil Harrison, as well as two colleagues from Kerala, India, was submitted to the journal Politics, Territory, Governance in January 2022, revised following review, and resubmitted in July 2022. The paper compares the evolution of capacity in the Gauteng and Kerala provincial / state government responses to COVID-19.

Related to this, Graeme Gotz, Dr Rob Moore and Prof. Phil Harrison, together with Dr. Margot Rubin are currently working on a book project reflecting on the South African government response to COVID-19. A contract for the book manuscript was signed with Routledge. Ethics clearance was obtained mid 2022, and interviews, document collection and writing are currently underway.

GCRO attended the launch of the first edition of the DPME led COVID-19 Country Report on 30 June 2022. GCRO contributed significantly to the report in various ways: Gillian Maree was a key author on the chapter on vulnerable groups; Alex Parker contributed to the chapter on gender; Rob Moore and Graeme Gotz’s contribution to the Gauteng ‘deep dive’ case study was incorporated as part of the final chapter of the report on provincial and local responses; and GCRO’s mapping and analysis was cited in various places in the report.

GCRO's COVID-19 outputs to date

Economic impacts of COVID-19 (29 April 2022)

The March 2020 GCRO Map of the Month used Quality of Life Survey V (2017/18) data to map potential vulnerability to COVID-19. The analysis argued:

"Whilst government has thus far focused on critical measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the immediate term, its responses will need to evolve over time to consider how the pandemic will have significant effects on the economy and livelihoods .... Once again, these impacts are likely to be felt unevenly. Poorer communities are likely to bear the brunt of the dire health and socio-economic consequences as COVID-19 spreads. In addition, with various shutdown measures already in place, they will be the most vulnerable to these dramatic changes in the patterns of social functioning, and the downturn in economic activity that will inevitably result."

Marking two years since this analysis was published, this April 2022 Map of the Month looks at available data from the 6th iteration of the Quality of Life Survey (QoL 2020/21) to reflect again on how Gauteng communities have been unevenly affected by the dire socio-economic crisis that has followed the pandemic. See the map and its analysis here.

Dynamics of entrepreneurship in the context of COVID-19 (10 December 2021)

This Vignette explores dynamics of business ownership in Gauteng in light of the economic downturn over the COVID-19 period. It explores three aspects: 1) the proportion of Quality of Life Survey respondents owning businesses from QoL III (2013/14) to QoL 6 (2020/21); 2) business ownership amongst those impacted by the crisis; and 3) the capacity to start new businesses by race, sex and education levels. Download the vignette here.

Patterns of new work for those economically impacted during COVID-19 (10 December 2021)

QoL 6 (2020/21) reveals the deep economic impacts of the COVID-19 period. Many lost jobs, had salary & working hours reduced, or permanently closed businesses. Encouragingly, not all who lost livelihoods stayed without work – 42% of those who lost jobs or closed businesses were working again at the time of interview – but the data also suggests that their new employment is much more tenuous than that of respondents who weren't impacted. Download the vignette here.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Gauteng City-Region (9 September 2021)

Results from QoL 2020/21 survey highlight the substantial and profound impact that COVID-19 has had on overall quality of life, health and well-being of residents in the GCR (de Kadt et al., 2021). Using QoL 2020/21 data, this Data Brief examines in more detail the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on households, society, the economy and governance. Download the report here.

COVID-19 in children and adolescents - changes since December 2020 (28 May 2021)

This Vignette follows up on that released in December 2020, and looks again at the impact of COVID-19 on children and adolescents in Gauteng, relative to other age groups. It shows that over five key periods across the pandemic the patterns of infection by age have changed markedly, and there has been a concerning increase in the proportion of total cases in the 0-19 age bracket since the new school year started in mid-February 2021. Download the vignette here.

Vulnerability Risk Index to assist with vaccine roll out (28 February 2021)

A single vulnerability index has been compiled for the Gauteng Province 'Prioritisation of Target Population for COVID 19 Vaccination' workstream to assist with COVID-19 vaccination planning. This index was mapped for the purposes of assisting the Gauteng Provincial Government to prioritise areas for vaccine rollout using GCRO’s COVID Vulnerability Index Maps from March 2020 and have been combined into a single index. Along with data on population density the Index is used to prioritise wards for vaccine roll out that have high vulnerability and high population density. The data can be accessed via the interactive viewer.

Rapid research paper: COVID-19 governance, leadership and decision-making in Gauteng (January 2021)

The onset of the pandemic prompted one of the most ambitious efforts at adaptive governance of the democratic era in South Africa. Extraordinary measures were put in place to achieve cooperative governance vertically across the spheres of government, and horizontally across the functional departments.

In mid-2020, shortly after the first COVID-19 wave, GCRO was asked by the Gauteng Provincial Government's Office of the Premier, working with the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) to contribute to a 'deep dive case study' on Gauteng's response to the pandemic. GCRO was requested to look at aspects of governance, leadership and decision-making. This component of the case study was completed in January 2021 and integrated with other sections exploring, inter alia, the Province's health response, economic response, communications, and so on. The integrated case study was counted as a background document in South Africa's Covid-19 Country Report (2021) (1st edition), launched on 30 June 2022. See the rapid research paper here.

COVID-19 in children and adolescents in Gauteng (11 December 2020)

Globally, preliminary data on COVID-19 suggests that children and adolescents (0-19 years) typically comprise a small fraction of recorded cases, and are less likely to get seriously ill or die. Between 06 March and 27 October 2020, children and adolescents constituted 8% of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in Gauteng, with 17-19 year-olds contributing the largest share (29%) of cases among the 0-19 year-olds. The total number of COVID-19 cases amongst those aged 0-19 years is proportionately much lower than for the adult population. However, the proportion of child and adolescent cases increased from the end of lockdown level 3, suggesting an increased risk as restrictions eased. Download the vignette here.

Johannesburg and its epidemics: Can we learn from history? (2 December 2020)

Covid-19 has massively disrupted life globally and locally, bringing many uncertainties in its wake. It is not, however, the first epidemic to pummel the world or our own country, region and city, raising the question of what we can learn from history. In the case of Johannesburg, epidemics have included: smallpox in 1893; measles in the internment camps of 1901/02; pneumonic plague in 1904; influenza in 1918/19; poliomyelitis in various outbreaks between 1918 and 1957; scarlet fever in outbreaks between 1917 and 1941; and HIV/Aids from the late 1980s. This is in addition to lesser epidemics such as influenza in 1957 and listeriosis in 2018. Download the occasional paper here.

The impact of COVID-19 on long term care facilities (30 September 2020)

For those who live in long term care facilities the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been particularly devastating. For the September Map of the Month we explore the impacts on long term care facilities in Gauteng by mapping the known cases in retirement villages, rehabilitation centres and specialised facilities for people with mental and physical disabilities.

Women and COVID-19 in Gauteng (31 August 2020)

This story map draws on the infection data from the Gauteng Department of Health (6 March - 7 August 2020) and GCRO’s March 2020 COVID-19 vulnerability indices based on Quality of Life V (2017/18) survey data, to understand the ways in which women may be more vulnerable than men to COVID-19. We also explore some of the implications for this gender bias in the number of positive cases. Download this Data Insight for more detailed analysis and charts.

Change in exponential growth of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa and Gauteng (18 August 2020)

This visualisation shows how the growth rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases has changed over time in the provinces of South Africa and districts in Gauteng. As the first COVID-19 cases were recorded in South Africa, growth was exponential, but the rate of growth has deviated from exponential growth for certain periods of time, like during lockdown level 5.

Household characteristics in relation to COVID-19 risks in Gauteng (30 June 2020)

In the context of COVID-19, different household characteristics are likely to influence exposure to various factors which might increase vulnerability to aspects of the pandemic. This visualisation explores the relationships between various household characteristics and exposure to a range of factors that are expected to impact vulnerability in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. This Data Insight provides more detail of the risk factors for each of the household characteristics explored here.

De-densifying Gauteng: A thought experiment (29 May 2020)

As we come to grips with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, urban population density is being fiercely debated. In our May Map of the Month we engaged in this debate first with a 3D population density map of Gauteng, using modelled population estimates. Second, we consider some of the benefits and drawbacks of high density settlements in the context of COVID-19 as well as the task of lowering the peak densities in the province. We have developed an interactive visualisation to give some sense of the size of the de-densification task in Gauteng, if it was to be pursued. This interactive visualisation represents a thought experiment and an attempt to understand the relationship between density, population size and land area. The visualisation demonstrates that ‘lowering the peaks of density’ would be an enormous, if not impossible, undertaking.

Gauteng's elderly in the context of COVID-19 (17 April 2020)

In light of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the elderly, this interactive visualisation uses data from our Quality of Life V survey (2017/18) to better understand the lives of the elderly in Gauteng province. In particular, we look at how the elderly form parts of families and households, and fulfill key caregiving and economic roles in the province. South Africa’s apartheid history has left Gauteng, and South Africa, with substantially different population-age structures for different population groups.

Income vulnerability in Gauteng (21 April 2020)

Using the GCRO's Quality of Life V data, this interactive visualisation looks at the various forms of income that people depend on to sustain themselves in Gauteng.

Households vulnerable to income disruption (6 April 2020)

Disruptions in household income flows due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown pose serious risks - both to individuals and households, but also to the effectiveness of the lockdown itself. When income flows are severely disrupted, household members may experience a reduction in food, interruptions to the management of chronic disease, and acute stress, increasing vulnerability to infectious disease. In this Insight, we look at household income streams and highlight those income types most likely to be disrupted. This Insight has been published as a single PDF document.

Challenges in accessing food during a lockdown (6 April 2020)

The current implementation of a lockdown has created a number of additional challenges for many households in accessing adequate food. In this Insight, we consider the difficulties that people experience to physically get to a retailer to purchase uncooked food, and then store perishable items. This Insight has been published as a single PDF document.

COVID-19 cases in South Africa by province (31 March 2020)

This interactive visualisation tracks the number of confirmed positive cases in South Africa per province, as reported by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

COVID-19 risk indices per municipality and metropolitan municipality planning region (6 April 2020)

GCRO has developed some analysis to help understand COVID-19-related risks at different geographic scales. The purpose of this Insight is (1) to present different COVID-19 risk levels at the municipal level in Gauteng, and (2) between the different planning regions in the three metros (Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, and Tshwane). This could help each metro to further understand and prioritise COVID-19 responses in terms of where efforts can be focused and what types of efforts might be required. This Insight has been published as a single PDF document.

Relating COVID-19 risk indices to population density in Gauteng (2 April 2020)

The March 2020 Map of the Month considered household crowding as one of the variables in the indices of risk factors, but the publication did not explore the influence of population density in detail. Population density beyond the household level will have a critical influence on the management of COVID-19 pandemic because it has a particularly significant impact on one’s ability to maintain adequate social distance and provide suitable assistance to residents, like providing enough medical care and keeping basic services working. These data visualisations examine how population density in Gauteng might affect strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and assess how population density influences vulnerability to the health and social impacts during the pandemic and broader shut down in the province.

Accompanying these data visualisations are:

1. Excel spreadsheet of the ward-level data of the risk indices and population density;
2. PDF of Map 1 (Index of risk factors to maintaining social distance and preventative hygiene related to population density per ward in Gauteng);
3. PDF of Map 2 (Index of risk factors to health and social vulnerability related to population density per ward in Gauteng);
4. PDF of Map 3 (The 100 most at risk wards related to where 50% of the Gauteng population live).

Mapping vulnerability to COVID-19 in Gauteng (20 March 2020)

The March 2020 Map of the Month was dedicated to understanding the localised risk factors that might contribute to the spread of COVID-19, and might amplify its health and socio-economic impact, in Gauteng communities.

Here are a number of resources associated with this output:

1. Additional material to the March 2020 Map of the Month Mapping vulnerability to COVID-19 in Gauteng, including detail maps and technical notes;
2. Excel spreadsheet of the ward-level data used to map the two vulnerability indexes in the March 2020 Map of the Month;
3. Excel spreadsheet of the ward-level data of preexisting health conditions from GCRO QoL V (2017/18) survey;
4. KMZ file of the ward-level data for Index 1 - Vulnerability to social distancing and preventative hygiene;
5. KMZ file of the ward-level data for Index 2 - Health and social vulnerability in the event of an outbreak or shutdown.

Seminar series: Collecting social data: adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic (July to October 2020)

The Gauteng City-Region Observatory, in collaboration with Social Surveys Africa and the Human Sciences Research Council, hosted a seven-part online seminar series on adapting social data collection practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The series started in July 2020, and ran through to October 2020. This seminar series brought together social researchers from a range of disciplines to explore different approaches to collecting social data during the COVID pandemic. It provided an opportunity for researchers to share learnings and innovations with a diverse audience, discuss challenges with colleagues with different backgrounds, and contributed to the collective strengthening of social research during this unique and challenging time.

Presentation materials and links to recordings for each seminar are available for download here.

Direct support to government

In addition to work on its own research outputs, GCRO has been asked to provide support to various government-led responses to the crisis. This work has included the following:

1. On request from the Office of the Premier, GCRO initially worked to try connect decision-making in the Gauteng COVID-19 Command Centre with various processes of localised spread mapping and modelling. In mid-2020 GCRO was able to access case data from the Mpilo database, and assisted directly with data analysis (e.g. breaking down data by age and gender), mining of addresses to identify hotspots, and mapping of trends.
2. Through much of 2020 and into 2021, Gillian Maree supported the Gauteng Departments of Health and Social Development to track the emergence of cases in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) across the province.
3. From mid-2020, GCRO participated in weekly meetings of the GPG Data Analytics and Research workstream, contributing to discussions in that forum on data quality and on broadening access to the data.
4. As part of the Data Analytics and Research workstream GCRO contributed to the shaping of a Gauteng COVID-19 data viewer, developed by IBM-Research South Africa in partnership with Wits University. The viewer was made live to the public in September 2020. GCRO's COVID-19 risk indexes were incorporated into the viewer. See the viewer here.
5. Gillian Maree and Alexandra Parker were co-authors on 2 chapters - on vulnerability and gender - of the national Presidency/DPME/GTAC/NRF Country Report on COVID-19. GCRO's data work has been included as case studies in the report.
6. On request from the Premier's Office, and facilitated by the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC), Rob Moore and Graeme Gotz wrote a chapter of a deep dive case study on Gauteng’s response to COVID-19. The chapter focused on governance and leadership dimensions of the response.
7. In 2020, GCRO's Executive Director, Dr Rob Moore, was appointed to the Gauteng Premier's Advisory Committee (PAC) on COVID-19, set up to help inform response planning.
8. From early 2021, Rob Moore as a member of the PAC, and Gillian Maree, have been working as part of various committees to advise GPG on the planning of vaccine rollout. Contributions included the preparation of a PAC advisory, and the mapping of priority populations for vaccine targeting.
9. In June 2020, GCRO helped provincial government departments and municipalities with QoL and other data to develop ward profiles relevant to COVID-19, as part of attempts to understand risk and plan for potential outbreaks.
10. Early in the pandemic, GCRO supported efforts by the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Government (COGTA) to map priority areas for the allocation of water tankers.
11. GCRO was asked by the Solidarity Fund to support the targeting of its national food distribution efforts by mapping: high priority wards across the country based on an index of multiple deprivation; the presence of civil society organisations potentially involved in food distribution; and therefore gaps in coverage of key areas of need.
12. The City of Johannesburg's Department of Development Planning also asked GCRO for mapped data on its index of vulnerability to the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown in order to help target the City's own distribution of food parcels.

Additional GCRO Resources

The Quality of Life V survey (2017/18) is a valuable data source for much of our analysis. The dataset is freely available for non-commercial purposes and can be downloaded from UCT's DataFirst platform or requested directly from the GCRO by sending an email to Dr Julia de Kadt (julia.dekadt@gcro.ac.za) and Yashena Naidoo (yashena.naidoo@gcro.ac.za).

External Resources

A spreadsheet of data sources compiled by the SDG Hub at the University of Pretoria.

Data and mapping coordination:

• SDG Hub at the University of Pretoria
• Data Science for Social Impact Research Group

Data dashboards and visualisations in South Africa:

• Coronapp
• Corona Map
• Data Science for Social Impact Research Group
• NRF & SAEON
• Media Hack
• Michael Rademeyer & Tauhir Jardine (A2D24)
• University of the Witwatersrand

Academic publications

Modiba, M. and Mkhize, S.P. (2022) 'Changes in socio-economic characteristics of formal and informal workers in Gauteng, South Africa: Evidence from the 2017/18 and 2020/21 Quality of Life Surveys', Southern African Journal of Demography, 22(1): 126-173.

Parker, A. and De Kadt, J. (2021). ‘Aging at Home: Gauteng's elderly in the context of COVID-19’, in Doucet, B., Filion, P. and van Melik, R. : Volume 2: Housing and Home, Global Reflections on COVID-19 Urban Inequalities. Bristol: Bristol University Press, pp.119-127.

Presentations

Mamokete Modiba and Sthembiso Pollen Mkhize (July 2022). 'Changes in socio-economic characteristics of formal and informal workers in Gauteng, South Africa: Evidence from the 2017/18 and 2020/21 Quality of Life Surveys', Presentation to the SARChI - Economic Development Seminar Series, July 2022.

Philip Harrison and Graeme Gotz (May 2022). 'COVID-19 as a window into the governance of the Province of Gauteng', Faces of the City Seminar Series, 3 May 2022.

Alexandra Parker, Gillian Maree and Yashena Naidoo (December 2021) 'Data and decision-making: The COVID-19 pandemic in the Gauteng city-region, South Africa' Visual Interest Group, Alan Turing Institute, via Zoom, 7 December 2021.

Graeme Gotz (on behalf of GCRO's Responding to COVID-19 team) (June 2021). 'Spatial analysis and making spatial data accessible in responding to COVID-19 in Gauteng'. GISSA-Gauteng quarterly meeting, 30 June 2021.

Rob Moore and Graeme Gotz (May 2021). 'Adaptive governance: what are we learning from the pandemic?' GPG / GTAC Provinces in the frontlines learning event, 21 May 2021.

Rob Moore and Graeme Gotz (May 2021). 'Adaptive governance: what are we learning from the pandemic?' PDMCC (Gauteng warroom) Gauteng City-Region COVID-19 case study workshop, 7 May 2021.

Christian Hamann, Alexandra Parker, Christina Culwick Fatti, and Yashena Naidoo (April 2021). 'Population density in the post-COVID-19 development era: Realities for the Gauteng Province, South Africa', AAG virtual conference 2021, Online presentation, 9 April 2021.

Rob Moore (April 2021). 'Adaptive governance: What are we learning from the pandemic?' Gauteng Provincial Government Centre of Government Workshop, 7 April 2021.

Philip Harrison, Rob Moore, Margot Rubin, Graeme Gotz (April 2021). 'COVID-19 as a diagnostic lens? Pandemic governance in the Gauteng City-Region, South Africa'. American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Conference, virtual presentation, 7 April 2021.

Gillian Maree, Graeme Gotz, Rob Moore, Alex Parker, Christina Culwick Fatti, Julia de Kadt, Christian Hamann, Sthembiso Mkhize (February 2021). 'Responding to COVID-19 in the GCR and status of QoL VI'. Gauteng Provincial Government Lekgotla, 16 February 2021.

Christina Culwick Fatti (November 2020). Panelist 'The recovery of the Public Transport Sector post the COVID-19 pandemic: Climate change and sustainability - the role of public transport in realising a greener future', Gautrain Public Transport Knowledge Seminar 2020, virtual webinar, 11 November 2020.

Rob Moore and Graeme Gotz (October 2020). 'Achieving Common Purpose: Adaptive Governance in the Pandemic'. Gauteng Provincial Government internal reflection workshop on the COVID-19 response, 23 October 2020.

Rob Moore and Graeme Gotz (October 2020). 'Achieving Common Purpose: Adaptive Governance in the Pandemic'. Governing the pandemic in large cities: From BRICS and beyond symposium, 22 October 2020.

Graeme Gotz and Gillian Maree (October 2020). 'Data governance and government through data in responding to COVID-19: Insights from the Gauteng City-Region'. Governing the pandemic in large cities: From BRICS and beyond symposium, 22 October 2020.

Rob Moore and Graeme Gotz (October 2020). 'Achieving Common Purpose: Adaptive Governance in the Pandemic'. Gauteng Provincial Government case study on COVID-19 response researchers' symposium, 8 October 2020.

Gillian Maree and Graeme Gotz (on behalf of GCRO COVID-19 team) (September 2020). "Responding to COVID-19 in the GCR: Data insights - what we do and don’t know", Presentation to the Department of Social Development, 28 September 2020.

Gillian Maree and Graeme Gotz (on behalf of GCRO COVID-19 team) (September 2020). "Responding to COVID-19 in the GCR: Data insights - what we do and don’t know", Presentation to the GCR Webinar on the role of data during and post COVID-19, 9 September 2020.

Gillian Maree (on behalf of GCRO COVID-19 team) (September 2020). 'Using QoL Data to Respond to the COVID Pandemic in Gauteng', presentation at Southern Africa City Study Conference 2020, 3 September 2020.

Gillian Maree and Graeme Gotz (on behalf of GCRO COVID-19 team) (September 2019). 'Responding to COVID-19 in the GCR: Data insights - what we do and don’t know', Premier's Advisory Committee on COVID, 7 September 2020.

Gillian Maree (August 2020). "Responding to the COVID-19 in the GCR" presentation at the Southern African City Studies Conference Panel on COVID-19: Re-shaping Gauteng and its governance, 31 August 2020.

Christina Culwick (August 2020). 'Debates on the relationship between COVID spread and density', Southern Africa City Studies Conference, 31 August 2020.

Rob Moore (August 2020). 'Adaptive governance in the pandemic: intentions and effects'. Southern Africa City Studies Conference, 31 August 2020.

Gillian Maree, Graeme Gotz and Alexandra Parker (August 2020). 'Responding to COVID-19 in the GCR: Data insights', GTAC seminar, 20 August 2020.

Rob Moore, Gillian Maree, Richard Ballard and Jesse Harber (August 2020). The Spatial Impact of COVID-19 and the Public Transport Response. Presentation to the Gautrain Management Authority Strategic Board Lekgotla. Johannesburg, 19 August 2020.

Gillian Maree (on behalf of GCRO COVID-19 team) (August 2019). 'Responding to COVID-19 in the GCR: Data insights', Gauteng Provincial Command Centre Media Briefing, 13 August 2020.

Gillian Maree and Graeme Gotz (on behalf of GCRO COVID-19 team) (August 2019). 'Responding to COVID-19 in the GCR: Data insights - what we do and don’t know', Gauteng Provincial Government Special Executive Council (EXCO), 12 August 2020.

Graeme Gotz and Alexandra Parker (August 2020). 'Responding to COVID-19 in the GCR: Data insights', GPG command council, 6 August 2020.

Rob Moore, Julia de Kadt and Alexandra Parker (August 2020) 'Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Gauteng', Urban Observatories And COVID-19 webinars, 3 & 6 August 2020.

Gillian Maree, Graeme Gotz and Alexandra Parker (July 2020) 'Responding to COVID-19 in the GCR: Data insights', COVID-19 Modelling Webinar Series, 29 July 2020.

Graeme Gotz and Gillian Maree (on behalf of GCRO COVID-19 team) (July 2019). 'COVID-19: Insights from infection data in Gauteng', Gauteng COVID0-19 Command Centre (Warroom), 9 July 2020.

Gillian Maree (July 2020). ' The Spatial Distribution of Risks and Vulnerabilities: The GCRO Covid-19 Gauteng Map', Presentation to the UKZN Centre for Civil Society Webinar, 1 July 2020.

Gillian Maree (June 2020). 'Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: GCRO research outputs', presentation to Gauteng Together, 9 June 2020.

Alexandra Parker on behalf of the team (March 2020). 'Mapping vulnerability to Covid-19', GPG EXCO meeting, GPG Offices, 23 March 2020.

Op-eds

Alexandra Parker published a new op-ed, "Eighteen months after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic women are faring worse than men, Quality of Life survey shows", Daily Maverick, 21 September 2021.

Sthembiso Pollen Mkhize, Alexandra Parker and Julia de Kadt, published a new op-ed, "Gauteng health and wellbeing survey highlights the plight of women and black Africans", Daily Maverick, 19 September 2021.

Richard Ballard, Julia de Kadt, Graeme Gotz, Sthembiso Pollen Mkhize, Yashena Naidoo, Alexandra Parker, Rashid Seedat, published an op-ed, "Covid fallout: Vulnerability and signs of recovery in Gauteng", Daily Maverick, 9 September 2021.

Alexandra Parker, Gillian Maree, Graeme Gotz, and Samkelisiwe Khanyile published on op-ed 'How COVID-19 puts women at more risk than men in Gauteng, South Africa', The Conversation Africa, 21 December 2020 which received over 100 000 reads. A number of media interviews followed from this publication: Alexandra Parker was interviewed on Newzroom Afrika on 25 December 2020, ENCA and SAFM on 5 January 2021, and 702 and CapeTalk Radio on 21 January 2021. Graeme Gotz was interviewed on PowerFM on 15 January 2021.

Alexandra Parker and Julia de Kadt published an op-ed with The Conversation Africa titled 'Close look at some South African households gives insights into COVID-19 vulnerability' on 5 August 2020

Julia de Kadt published an op-ed on data during the COVID-19 pandemic titled 'COVID-19 highlights South Africa’s need for local level social data', The Conversation Africa, on 11 May 2020.

Alexandra Parker and Julia de Kadt published an op-ed on Gauteng's elderly with The Conversation Africa titled 'Our research shows why it’s vital to protect older South Africans from coronavirus' on 26 April 202 which led to other republications and an interview with Azania Mosaka on 702 Talk Radio on 27 April 2020, available here.

Selected media coverage

Gillian Maree was interviewed on Radio 2000 and on Newzroom Afrika on the first edition of South Africa's COVID-19 Country Report, 30 June 2022.

GCRO's research was featured in "Promises at hearings on July riots ring hollow", New Frame, 08 April 2022.

Mamokete Matjomane was interviewed on MetroFM on job losses in Gauteng in the context of COVID-19, 3 March 2022.

GCRO's was featured in "SAHRC hearing: Research organisation says 18% of people in Gauteng lost jobs during Covid-19 pandemic", IOL News, 02 March 2022.

GCRO's Quality of Life survey featured in "How COVID-19 has reduced the quality of life in Gauteng", Jacaranda FM, 15 September 2021.

GCRO's Quality of Life survey cited in "SA records nearly 281 Covid-19 related deaths", Times Live, 10 September 2021.

GCRO's work featured in an article “Covid-19 takes a scythe to Gauteng’s quality of life" by Ferial Haffajee. Daily Maverick. 9 September 2021

GCRO's work featured in an article “Quality of life in Gauteng declines amid pandemic, survey finds” by Tasneem Bulbulia. Engineering News. 9 September 2021

GCRO's Quality of Life survey cited in "Despite extreme impact, most in Gauteng satisfied with govt's response to Covid-19 - survey", fin24, 9 September 2021.

GCRO's Quality of Life survey cited in "Return to employment more likely for whites, men and highly educated people - survey", News24, 9 September 2021.

GCRO's Quality of Life survey cited in "Covid-19 hits Gauteng residents hard as more people lose their jobs: survey", Times Live, 9 September 2021.

GCRO's work featured in "Covid-19 Forced us all to experiment. What have we learned?", IEEE Spectrum, 20 July 2021.

Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, mentioned the role of the GCRO during the COVID-19 pandemic in his Gauteng State of the Province Address, reproduced on Politics Web, 23 February 2021.

GCRO's research on the elderly and COVID-19 was cited in an article 'Nearly 85,000 older South Africans have probably died from Covid-19' written by James Stent, The Daily Maverick, 25 January 2021.

GCRO's involvement in the Gauteng COVID-19 dashboard with IBM is mentioned in an article 'Developing Covid-19 hotspot areas in east', by Noxolo Sibiya, Pretoria Rekord, 13 January 2021.

Alexandra Parker was interviewed on Newzroom Afrika on household vulnerabilities and COVID-19, 11 August 2020.

The article 'Gauteng Covid-19 visualisation platform enables monitoring, prediction' by Schalk Burger in Creamer's Engineering News highlights GCRO’s collaborative work with Gauteng Provincial Government, IBM and WIts University on a live interactive COVID-19 dashboard, 7 July 2020.

Alexandra Parker was interviewed on eNCA on Friday 3 July 2020 in connection with the March 2020 Map of the Month Mapping vulnerability to COVID-19 in Gauteng.

GCRO’s collaborative work with Gauteng Provincial Government, IBM and WIts University on a live interactive COVID-19 dashboard is featured in an interview for IT News Africa ‘INTERVIEW: How IBM and WITS are Enabling Data-Driven Decisions to Flatten the COVID-19 Curve’ written by Jenna Delport, 2 July 2020.

GCRO’s research on Households vulnerable to income disruption and Income vulnerability in Gauteng in relation to COVID-19 was featured in an article ‘As Covid-19 explodes in Gauteng, Dlamini Zuma must make Lockdown 2.0 decision’ by Ferial Haffajee in Daily Maverick on 2 July 2020.

GCRO’s visualisation on Gauteng’s elderly was mentioned in an article for the Daily Maverick “Now we are all Swedes: Covid-19, eugenics and sacrificing the ‘older older’; by Steven Robins on 10 June 2020 and in an article for Health-e News ‘CoronavirusSA: Household members a massive risk to each other’ by Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla on 24 June 2020.

Christina Culwick was interviewed about the May Map of the Month 'De-densifying Gauteng' on Kaya FM (29 May 2020) and Voice of Wits (2 June 2020).

GCRO's analysis on income vulnerability in relation to COVID-19 was mentioned in an article 'Olievenhoutbosch's most vulnerable hit hard by Covid-19 lockdown' by Belinda Pheto in the Sunday Times, 10 May 2020.

The analysis on the elderly in Gauteng was featured in an article '"They can’t survive if I die": Stalwart gogos fear for their families', in the Sunday Times, by Graeme Hosken on 10 May 2020.

GCRO's insight on 'Households vulnerable to income disruption' related to COVID-19 was featured in 'Income cuts pose serious threat to lockdown' by Sheree Bega, published on 13 April 2020 in the Saturday Star.

Analysis on COVID-19, initially published in GCRO's March 2020 Map of the Month, Mapping vulnerability to COVID-19 in Gauteng, is featured in several publications including the front page of The Saturday Star; Eyewitness News and the Daily Maverick. Related to this work Graeme Gotz was interviewed on NewzroomAfrika with Stephen Grootes and Gillian Maree was interviewed on SABC radio news, both on 25 March 2020.

Some academic papers citing GCRO's COVID-19 research

Ryan, J. M., & Nanda, S. (2022). COVID-19: Social Inequalities and Human Possibilities. Routledge.

Adeniyi, O. O. (2021). The Human Rights Impact of COVID-19 on African Women: Focus on Nigeria and South Africa. African Journal of Gender, Society and Development (formerly Journal of Gender, Information and Development in Africa), 10(3), 13-31.

Friedman, S. (2021). One Virus, Two Countries: What Covid-19 Tells Us about South Africa. NYU Press.

Kleintjes, S., McKenzie, J., Abrahams, T., & Adnams, C. (2020). Improving the health of children and adults with intellectual disability in South. South African Health Review, 19.

Bański, J., & Mazur, M. (2021). Selected determinants and spatial variation of the development of the COVID-19 pandemic–a diagnosis of the first year. Nauka, (3).

Tambunan, M. P., & Tambunan, R. P. (2021). Spatial Distribution of COVID-19 Vulnerable Areas in Tambora District, Jakarta Barat. Journal SPATIAL Wahana Komunikasi dan Informasi Geografi, 21(1), 1-11.

Bański, J., Mazur, M., & Kamińska, W. (2021). Socioeconomic Conditioning of the Development of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Global Spatial Differentiation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(9), 4802.

Cioban, S., & Mare, C. (2021). Spatial clustering behaviour of Covid-19 conditioned by the development level: Case study for the administrative units in Romania. Spatial Statistics, 100558.

Nchabeleng, M., & Kaggwa, M. (2021). COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN COVID-19 MITIGATION. The mental health dimension of Covid-19, 10.

Babalola, A. M. (2020). CONTRIBUTIONS OF GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY IN FIGHTING COVID-19. Korea, 2020, 3.

PESARESI, C., PAVIA, D., DE VITO, C., BARBARA, A., CERABONA, V., & DI ROSA, E. (2021). Dynamic space-time diffusion simulator in a gis environment to tackle the covid-19 emergency. Testing a geotechnological application in rome. Geographia Technica, 82-99.

Ludowieg, A. R., Ortega, C., Bronfman, A., Serra, M. R., & Chong, M. (2021). A methodology for managing public spaces to increase access to essential goods and services by vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management.

Keet, C. M. (2021). Bias in ontologies--a preliminary assessment. arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.08035.

Manderson, L., & Levine, S. (2020). Aging, Care, and Isolation in the Time of COVID-19. Anthropology & Aging, 41(2), 132-140.

de V Castelyn, C., Viljoen, I. M., Dhai, A., & Pepper, M. S. (2020). Resource allocation during COVID-19: A focus on vulnerable populations. South African Journal of Bioethics and Law, 13 (1).

Franch-Pardo, I., Napoletano, B. M., Rosete-Verges, F., & Billa, L. (2020). Spatial analysis and GIS in the study of COVID-19. A review. Science of The Total Environment, 140033.

Gibson, L., & Rush, D. (2020). Novel Coronavirus in Cape Town Informal Settlements: Feasibility of Using Informal Dwelling Outlines to Identify High Risk Areas for COVID-19 Transmission From A Social Distancing Perspective. JMIR public health and surveillance, 6(2), e18844. https://doi.org/10.2196/18844

Last updated: 12 October 2022.