Similarities between the Evolution of COVID-19 Number of Cases in Romanian Counties

Our study investigates possible similarities detected in the dynamics of COVID-19 pandemic concerning the number of confirmed cases in Romanian counties, as reflected in official reports, in a period of 136 days (between April 2nd and August 15th, 2020; two methods of assessment are used: the direct comparison of the values by calculating the Euclidean norm and the comparison of their trends expressed through the slopes of the regression lines. The biggest similarities between the daily number of new cases were observed between the counties Satu Mare and Salaj (12.340); the global situation of Romania is the most similar with the situation from Bucharest (14.900), whereas the counties with the worst evolution are Suceava and Arges, with significantly increased numbers of cases as compared with the rest of the country. The smallest differences between their slopes were observed between the counties Tulcea and Neamt (0.00002) and the global situation of Romania is the most similar with the situation from Timisoara (0.00040); again, the counties with the worst pandemic evolution were found Suceava and Arges. (Abstract)