Impacts of social distancing policies on mobility and COVID-19 case growth in the US

Abstract

Social distancing remains an important strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. However, the impacts of specific state-level policies on mobility and subsequent COVID-19 case trajectories have not been completely quantified. Using anonymized and aggregated mobility data from opted-in Google users, we found that state-level emergency declarations resulted in a 9.9% reduction in time spent away from places of residence. Implementation of one or more social distancing policies resulted in an additional 24.5% reduction in mobility the following week, and subsequent shelter-in-place mandates yielded an additional 29.0% reduction. Decreases in mobility were associated with substantial reductions in case growth two to four weeks later. For example, a 10% reduction in mobility was associated with a 17.5% reduction in case growth two weeks later. Given the continued reliance on social distancing policies to limit the spread of COVID-19, these results may be helpful to public health officials trying to balance infection control with the economic and social consequences of these policies.

Estimating the Impact of Statewide Policies to Reduce Spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Real Time, Colorado, USA

“…Mobility decreased rapidly in March in concert with early transmission control policies and the statewide stay-at-home order, and mobility increased as social distancing policies were relaxed. Consistent with our findings, others have found that US population mobility was reactive to policy during March: greater perceived disease prevalence and governmental stay-at-home orders resulted in less mobility and social interaction (35)(36)(37). However, in Colorado, lifting stay-at-home orders and concurrent increases in mobility do not appear to have led to increased transmission, indicating the limitations in using mobility data to predict transmission.…”

Anticipation of COVID-19 vaccines reduces willingness to socially distance

“… Farboodi et al, 2021 , Nouvellet et al, 2021 , Bartscher et al, 2020 , VoPham et al, 2020 , Wellenius et al, 2021 …”

Can Face- and Smartphone-Touching Behaviors Be Altered with Personal Hygiene Reminders during the COVID-19 Pandemic Period? An Observational Study

“…People come into regular contact with living microorganisms when they touch these surfaces with their bare hands. Contaminated hands thus become a vector that transmits the bacteria or virus from a frequently touched surface to a person’s mucosal areas through face touching [ 16 , 17 ]. Because smartphone surfaces can be pathogen carriers, people must abandon the habit of smartphone touching paired with face touching to break the transmission chain of infectious disease.…”