COVID-19 is linked to changes in the time–space dimension of human mobility

Abstract

Socio-economic constructs and urban topology are crucial drivers of human mobility patterns. During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, these patterns were reshaped in their components: the spatial dimension represented by the daily travelled distance, and the temporal dimension expressed as the synchronization time of commuting routines. Here, leveraging location-based data from de-identified mobile phone users, we observed that, during lockdowns restrictions, the decrease of spatial mobility is interwoven with the emergence of asynchronous mobility dynamics. The lifting of restriction in urban mobility allowed a faster recovery of the spatial dimension compared with the temporal one. Moreover, the recovery in mobility was different depending on urbanization levels and economic stratification. In rural and low-income areas, the spatial mobility dimension suffered a more considerable disruption when compared with urbanized and high-income areas. In contrast, the temporal dimension was more affected in urbanized and high-income areas than in rural and low-income areas.

Temporal shifts in 24 notifiable infectious diseases in China before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…This observation may be due to the relaxation of PHSMs, leading to increased social interactions, population migration and potential for NID transmission 9 , 11 , 25 . Similar to PHSMs period I, a reduction in NIDs also observed during the epidemic period, which may attributed to the decreased mobility of Omicron BA.2 variant infections 25 , coupled with an increased propensity to wear masks. Additionally, compliance with PHSMs extended even to susceptible individuals, even in the absence of government enforcement.…”

“…Travel restrictions significantly affect the transmission of ZIDs like dengue fever and malaria, which are mosquito-borne and sensitive to imported cases 25 , 30 . In the winter, the inhospitable condition for mosquitos help suppress these diseases across most of China 31 .…”

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in persistent changes in the patterns of internal population movements in Latin American countries

“…We focused on analysing the levels and spatial patterns of internal population movement. Available evidence from the Global North suggests systematic differences in the mobility patterns of more and less socio-economically advantaged individuals during the early stages of the pandemic (Gauvin et al 2021;Long and Ren 2022;Santana et al 2023). While empirical evidence is lacking, existing findings suggest that more socio-economically advantaged individuals seem to have been able to relocate more "permanently" away from large and dense urban areas during the height of the pandemic (Gauvin et al 2021).…”

“…They are more likely to have second or holidays homes and have jobs which can be done remotely. Less socio-economically advantaged individuals were less able to relocate away from their home as they are more likely to work on less well paid service jobs requiring face-to-face interaction (Santana et al 2023).…”