Escaping from Cities during the COVID-19 Crisis: Using Mobile Phone Data to Trace Mobility in Finland

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis resulted in unprecedented changes in the spatial mobility of people across societies due to the restrictions imposed. This also resulted in unexpected mobility and population dynamics that created a challenge for crisis preparedness, including the mobility from cities during the crisis due to the underlying phenomenon of multi-local living. People changing their residences can spread the virus between regions and create situations in which health and emergency services are not prepared for the population increase. Here, our focus is on urban–rural mobility and the influence of multi-local living on population dynamics in Finland during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. Results, based on three mobile phone datasets, showed a significant drop in inter-municipal mobility and a shift in the presence of people—a population decline in urban centres and an increase in rural areas, which is strongly correlated to secondary housing. This study highlights the need to improve crisis preparedness by: (1) acknowledging the growing importance of multi-local living, and (2) improving the use of novel data sources for monitoring population dynamics and mobility. Mobile phone data products have enormous potential, but attention should be paid to the varying methodologies and their possible impact on analysis.

The phylodynamics of SARS-CoV-2 during 2020 in Finland — Disappearance and re-emergence of introduced strains.

“…In the beginning of June (week 23), restrictions on social gatherings were partially loosened to allow larger gatherings of 10-50 people in public spaces (e.g., restaurants and sport events). The rate of weekly detections steadily decreased to less than 100 during this time, and the number of tests per week also dropped to half during summer until week 26 (end of June) 14 . International travel restrictions were lifted between European countries with low infection rates (less than 25 per 100,000) 15 on July 8, 2020 (week 28).…”

“…As part of the 43 independent introduction events, our analysis identi ed 35 introductions (81%) (95% HPD interval = [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]) resulting in relatively few sampled Finnish descendants (≤ 10), including 16 singleton introductions (95% HPD interval = [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]). Hence, the large majority of introductions account for a relatively small number of the lineages we sample, a pattern typically observed for all European countries (Fig.…”

“…SARS-CoV-2 emerged in Wuhan, China, from a horseshoe bat reservoir in late 2019 possibly through a currently uncharacterized intermediate host animal reservoir 2 , and causes COVID-19, a respiratory infection with severe cases leading to respiratory failure and multiorgan manifestations in humans. The genome of SARS-CoV-2 is approximately 30 kb in length and is composed of [13][14][15] open reading frames (ORFs). The ORFs contain 11 genes that encode for 12 proteins, including ORF1a, ORF1b, spike (S), ORF3a, envelope (E), membrane (M), ORF6, ORF7a, ORF7b, ORF8, nucleocapsid (N), and ORF10 3 .…”

Evaluating the Effect of the Financial Status to the Mobility Customs

“…Willberg et al identified a significant decrease of the population presence in the largest cities of Finland after the lockdown compared to a usual week [25]. Bushman et al analyzed the compliance to social distancing in the US using mobile phone data [26].…”

Ageing and Inclusion in Rural Areas

“…This enabled them to keep social distancing while having an active lifestyle. A study on mobile data indicated mobility flows from urban areas to less populated rural areas, and there was a strong correlation between the increase of people and the presence of second homes [25]. Mobile work and remote services may attract more people in these areas also in the future.…”