Hospitalization coordination at the time of COVID-19 spread in Hyogo, Japan: Visualizing mutual aid for community collaboration

A new coronavirus pandemic broke out in 2020. As a countermeasure, cluster control based on active epidemiological surveys was undertaken under the jurisdiction of public health centers in Japan. However, as the number of infected people increased, the workload exceeded the processing capability of public health centers. In response to the national and prefectural government’s request to avoid functional failure due to overwork and understaffing, university faculty members provided operational support to the public health center throughout the day and night. We would like to report the issues of inter-regional cooperation that emerged from our experience.