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Researchers at the University of Maryland have used smartphone data to track how often people are leaving their home amid the coronavirus pandemic, and numbers are slowly climbing, USA Today reports.
What’s going on:
- Researchers said the number of people stay at home reached its record high on Easter Sunday. But the number dropped on April 14, which was the day before massive protests erupted across the country/. Specifically, protests began in Michigan over the stay-at-home orders, according to USA Today.
- Researchers suggest people are leaving their home more due to “quarantine fatigue,” warmer weather and economic reasons, among others.
What researchers found:
- The research found the percentage of people staying home increased or stayed the same for about six weeks. The peak high came on Easter Sunday, USA Today reports.
- The number of people staying home dropped on April 14.
- Lei Zhang, director of the Maryland Transportation Institute at the University of Maryland, told USA Today the number was dropping for two weeks.
- He said: “Now for many states the level of their social distancing right now is about the same as the week of March 20.”
- The researchers created the COVID-19 Impact Analysis, which offers an index score based on how much people are social distancing. A score of 0 means no social distancing. But 100 means perfect social distancing. The index fell from 52 to 44.
- Every state saw a drop in social distancing except for Rhode Island.
- The 10 states with the highest drop in social distancing were identified as: Louisiana, Indiana, Ohio, Vermont, Alabama, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas and Arkansas, according to The Hill.