Detecting Differences in Italian Regional Health Services During Two Covid-19 Waves

During the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, territorial healthcare systems have been severely stressed in many countries. The availability (and complexity) of data requires proper comparisons for understanding differences in the performance of health services. We apply a three-step approach to compare the performance of the Italian healthcare system at the territorial level (NUTS 2 regions), considering daily time series regarding both intensive care units and ordinary hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients. Changes between the two waves at a regional level emerge from the main results, allowing to map the pressure on territorial health services.