ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides insights into the social dimensions of Coronavirus disease (COVID) in Australia, France, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (UK), Canada and the United States of America (USA). It provides an overview of sociocultural perspectives on contagion in the literature published prior to the COVID outbreak. The book focuses on the UK government’s response to COVID, emphasising the multi-scalar effects of state intervention and the implications for different groups in society. It explores new questions about the risks of physically active human bodies and the ‘trails’ of contagion that they may disperse in and through the ebbs and flows of the natural and built environment. The book demonstrates how it feels to be living with COVID risk and treated as a vulnerable person – or worse, objectified as less than human.
