  We describe Epilocal, a simple R program designed to automatically download
the most recent data on reported infected SARS-CoV-2 cases for all Italian
provinces and regions, and to provide a simple descriptive analysis. For each
province the cumulative number of reported infected cases is available each
day. In addition, the current numbers of hospitalized patients (separately for
intensive care or not) and the cumulative number of deceased individuals are
available at the region level. The data are analyzed through Poisson
generalized linear models with logarithmic link function and polynomial
regression on time. For cumulative data, we also consider a logistic
parameterisation of the hazard function. Automatic model selection is performed
to choose among the different model specifications, based on the statistical
significance of the corresponding estimated parameters and on goodness-of-fit
assessment. The chosen model is used to produce up-to-today estimates of the
growth rate of the counts. Results are plotted on a map of the country to allow
for a visual assessment of the geographic distribution of the areas with
differential prevalence and rates of growth.
