Description
The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in the unprecedented use of genetic technologies in the mapping of viral genomes and the measurement of positive cases with RT-PCR tests. The data gained from these tests have been visualised in novel ways including on the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 data dashboard (JHDD) and HealthMap. Though recently shut down, these tools mapped the spread of positive COVID-19 cases, deaths and vaccinations across the globe. These tools would provide critical information to the scientific community, public, press, and to international, federal, and local policymakers. They would also go on to shape the response to subsequent outbreaks including the monkeypox outbreak identified by the WHO in May 2022 marking a fundamental turning point in how to approach infectious disease outbreaks (Rasmussen-Torvik, 2022). This paper draws from work analysing the image in security studies and the role that maps play in international politics to investigate the empirical and theoretical significance of the visualisation and mapping of viral genetic data in the COVID-19 pandemic. It tentatively argues that the political power of the JHDD derived from the immediacy and accessibility of its visual content that visualised territory in terms of the spread of viral genetic information.