Changes in the COVID-19 positive cases and their regional comparison in Aomori

Abstract

This study visualized changes in the COVID-19 positive cases from March 2020 to September 2022 in Aomori and examined their regional relationships among health center areas. In Aomori, the first positive case was observed at the end of March 2020, while the number of cases remained low until October. After that, as in other prefectures, the number of cases increased and decreased repeatedly, reaching a peak of about 12.8 thousand per week at the end of August 2022. In the early outbreak, the number of cases varied in each health center area, but the regional variations changed along the way. Since the summer of 2021, while there were some regional variations partly, overall, the number of cases indicated synchronous changes in the eight health center areas. The above results of regional comparisons were shown clearly by principal component analysis.