Neighborhood Isolation during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted Americans' daily mobility, which could contribute to greater social stratification. Relying on SafeGraph cellphone movement data in 2019-2020, we use two indexes proposed by Phillips and colleagues (2019) to measure mobility inequality between census tracts in the 25 largest U.S. cities. These measures capture the importance of hubs and neighborhood isolation in a network. In the earliest phases of the pandemic, neighborhood isolation rapidly increased, and the importance of downtown central business districts declined. Mobility hubs generally regained their importance, whereas neighborhood isolation remained elevated and increased again during the latter half of 2020. Linear regression models with city and week fixed effects find that new COVID-19 cases are positively associated with neighborhood isolation changes a week later. Additionally, places with larger populations, more public transportation use, and greater racial and ethnic segregation had larger increases in neighborhood isolation during 2020.

Segregated mobility patterns amplify neighborhood disparities in the spread of COVID-19

“…Despite the central role of interconnectivity in mobility networks, our observations show that much of human mobility remained local in Chicago (Figure 2), echoing prior findings (Alessandretti et al, 2018;Schläpfer et al, 2021). While marked decreases in urban mobility occurred, especially after the declaration of national emergency in the US, the structure of mobility remained relatively stable and became even more geographically concentrated (Marlow et al, 2021). Examining the distribution of trips during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic (Figure 2(b)) reflects this pattern: over 80% of an individual's trips are contained within their own ZIP Code (Majority Black: 85%; Majority Latinx: 86%; Majority White: 85%; Mixed: 84%, see Tables S1-S4 for ZIP Code level data).…”

“…Over the course of 2020 urban mobility networks changed significantly (Schlosser et al, 2020;Marlow et al, 2021), as mobility has become more localized, and neighborhoods have become more isolated. We demonstrate that this isolation, which likely extends beyond 2020, reinforces inequalities in case rates across communities, and our observations suggest that these effects are further amplified by localized and concentrated mobility upon the onset of an outbreak.…”

“…longer-distance trips and trips leading to demographically dissimilar ZIP Codes (Marlow et al, 2021). These changes thus yield an increase in segregation and may "lock in" privilege, as well as exacerbate inequalities.…”

Transformation of social relationships in COVID-19 America: Remote communication may amplify political echo chambers

“…Since social isolation and lack of social support through social networks likely lead to anxiety, loneliness and depression (Kovacs et al 2021;Krendl and Perry 2021), it is plausible to think that Americans must be also "socially" isolated, to the extent that we are physically isolated. Indeed, using phone location data, research shows that the majority of Americans reduced their mobility, minimizing their physical contacts with others, during the pandemic periods (Marlow, Makovi, and Abrahao 2021). However, physical contact is not a good proxy for social contacts since people can be connected to each other through non-physical communication channels.…”

Transformation of social relationships in COVID-19 America: Remote communication may amplify political echo chambers

“…The resilience of Americans' core networks in the face of escalating psychological distress and loneliness during COVID-19 ( 57) is surprising, given that anxiety, loneliness, and depression are commonly linked to social isolation and inadequate social support (58,59). It also contradicts the notion that Americans were "socially" as isolated as they were physically (60). Here, the finding that Americans could uphold their core relationships through remote channels during the pandemic may imply that their feelings of loneliness and isolation may have arisen from shifts in specific types of social interactions, such as the decrease in face-to-face interactions with neighbors and friends (61) and the decline of social gatherings as shown in Fig 1 . These seemingly peripheral relationships that were available in core networks play a vital role in social support.…”