  The spread of viral pathogens is inherently a spatial process. While the
temporal aspects of viral spread at the epidemiological level have been
increasingly well characterized, the spatial aspects of viral spread are still
understudied due to a striking absence of theoretical expectations of how
spatial dynamics may impact the temporal dynamics of viral populations.
Characterizing the spatial transmission and understanding the factors driving
it are important for anticipating local timing of disease incidence and for
guiding more informed control strategies. Using a unique data set from Nova
Scotia, the objective of this study is to apply a new novel method that
recovers a spatial network of the influenza-like viral spread where the regions
in their dominance are identified and ranked. We, then, focus on identifying
regional predictors of those dominant regions.
