COVID-19 and Migration

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every domain of life. Migration and human mobility in general are not exceptions. Since March 2020, researchers, policy makers and many others have channelled their efforts to understand this new coronavirus, its impact and prospects. Many scholars were thinking and writing on the pandemic from its onset and many blog essays quickly appeared. One of the earliest peer-reviewed research articles Sirkeci and Yucesahin (2020) is reproduced here. This article and its focus on mobility and travel data showed that it was possible to predict the spatial spread and concentration of COVID-19 cases. Not only was this finding crucial to developing appropriate policies and strategies to counter the spread of the virus, it reminded us that the pandemic is a social disease and not simply a biological threat. The contributions in this book should be considered in this regard tackling the social and policy aspects as we leave the biological and medical side to the experts. |
"Covid-19 introduces new uncertainties for everyone. For agriculture, the longer term effects of the pandemic include faster mechanization, more guest workers, and rising imports. Responses are likely to vary by commodity and be shaped by government policies."
- Philip L Martin, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis, USA
"The COVID-19 pandemic reminds us of just how many people across the world rely on mobility for their livelihood: taxi drivers, delivery workers, street vendors, maintenance technicians of long-distance operation systems, all employees in the hospitality sector... not forgetting the most vulnerable at this time, the homeless, beggars and street kids, especially in the global South, who have to move from place to place to get food, to find a place to sleep through the night, and to run away from police."
- Biao Xiang, Professor of Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK
Contents: CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION - Ibrahim Sirkeci and Jeffrey H. Cohen | CHAPTER 2. COVID-19 AND INTERNATIONAL LABOUR MIGRATION IN AGRICULTURE - Philip L. Martin | CHAPTER 3. HOSTAGES OF MOBILITY: TRANSPORT, SECURITIZATION AND STRESS DURING PANDEMIC - Biao Xiang | CHAPTER 4. MODELING AND PREDICTION OF THE 2019 CORONAVIRUS DISEASE SPREADING IN CHINA INCORPORATING HUMAN MIGRATION DATA | ...