Analysis of distribution characteristics of COVID-19 in America based on space-time scan statistic

Based on the epidemic data of COVID-19 in 50 states of the United States (the US) from December 2021 to January 2022, the spatial and temporal clustering characteristics of COVID-19 in the US are explored and analyzed. First, the retrospective spatiotemporal analysis is performed by using SaTScan 9.5, and 17 incidence areas are obtained. Second, the reliability of the results is tested by the circular distribution method in the time latitude and the clustering method in the spatial latitude, and it is confirmed that the retrospective spatiotemporal analysis accurately measures in time and reasonably divides regions according to the characteristics in space. Empirical results show that the first-level clustering area of the epidemic has six states with an average relative risk of 1.28 and the second-level clustering area includes 18 states with an average relative risk of 0.86. At present, the epidemic situation in the US continues to expand. It is necessary to do constructive work in epidemic prevention, reduce the impact of epidemic, and effectively control the spread of the epidemic.