Relationships between Local Green Space and Human Mobility Patterns during COVID-19 for Maryland and California, USA

Heo, Seulkee; Lim, Chris; Bell, Michelle L.

doi:10.3390/su12229401

Cited by 45 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Recent studies have demonstrated that patterns of visiting natural spaces such as urban parks and woodlands have changed as a result of COVID-19 [ 2 , 14 ]. Other studies have called for keeping parks and green spaces accessible during the COVID-19 pandemic due to their health benefits [ 15 , 16 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature’s Role in Supporting Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Geospatial and Socioecological Study

Robinson

Brindley

Cameron

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented changes to human lifestyles across the world. The virus and associated social restriction measures have been linked to an increase in mental health conditions. A considerable body of evidence shows that spending time in and engaging with nature can improve human health and wellbeing. Our study explores nature’s role in supporting health during the COVID-19 pandemic. We created web-based questionnaires with validated health instruments and conducted spatial analyses in a geographic information system (GIS). We collected data (n = 1184) on people’s patterns of nature exposure, associated health and wellbeing responses, and potential socioecological drivers such as relative deprivation, access to greenspaces, and land-cover greenness. The majority of responses came from England, UK (n = 993). We applied a range of statistical analyses including bootstrap-resampled correlations and binomial regression models, adjusting for several potential confounding factors. We found that respondents significantly changed their patterns of visiting nature as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. People spent more time in nature and visited nature more often during the pandemic. People generally visited nature for a health and wellbeing benefit and felt that nature helped them cope during the pandemic. Greater land-cover greenness within a 250 m radius around a respondent’s postcode was important in predicting higher levels of mental wellbeing. There were significantly more food-growing allotments within 100 and 250 m around respondents with high mental wellbeing scores. The need for a mutually-advantageous relationship between humans and the wider biotic community has never been more important. We must conserve, restore and design nature-centric environments to maintain resilient societies and promote planetary health.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature’s Role in Supporting Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Geospatial and Socioecological Study

Robinson

Brindley

Cameron

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…A study indicated that in the US, while mobility generally decreased during the pandemic compared to earlier (e.g., 13% lower for retail and recreation), mobility to parks increased 54% [ 30 ]. A recent US study suggested that daily human mobility during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak (March–April 2020) decreased less in communities with a higher amount of vegetation after stay-at-home orders indicating the potential impact of and disparities in greenspace access during a pandemic [ 31 ]. To date, almost no research has studied the intersection of these complex systems to understand how the pandemic affected the use of greenspace and the associated psychosocial effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Changed Use of Greenspace during COVID-19 Pandemic on Depression and Anxiety

Heo

Desai

Lowe

et al. 2021

IJERPH

Self Cite

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The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating consequences for health, social, and economic domains, but what has received far less focus is the effect on people’s relationship to vital ecological supports, including access to greenspace. We assessed patterns of greenspace use in relation to individual and environmental factors and their relationship with experiencing psychological symptoms under the pandemic. We conducted an online survey recruiting participants from social media for adults in Korea for September–December 2020. The survey collected data on demographics, patterns of using greenspace during the pandemic, and major depression (MD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 2-item (GAD-2) were applied to identify probable cases of MD and GAD. A logistic regression model assessed the association decreased visits to greenspace after the outbreak compared to 2019 and probable MD and GAD. Among the 322 survey participants, prevalence of probable MD and GAD were 19.3% and 14.9%, respectively. High rates of probable MD (23.3%) and GAD (19.4%) were found among persons currently having job-related and financial issues. Of the total participants, 64.9% reported decreased visits to greenspace after the COVID-19 outbreak. Persons with decreased visits to greenspace had 2.06 higher odds (95% CI: 0.91, 4.67, significant at p < 0.10) of probable MD at the time of the survey than persons whose visits to greenspace increased or did not change. Decreased visits to greenspace were not significantly associated with GAD (OR = 1.45, 95% CI: 0.63, 3.34). Findings suggest that barriers to greenspace use could deprive people of mental health benefits and affect mental health during pandemic; an alternative explanation is that those experiencing poor mental health may be less likely to visit greenspaces during pandemic. This implies the need of adequate interventions on greenspace uses under an outbreak especially focusing on how low-income populations may be more adversely affected by a pandemic and its policy responses.

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“…There was linear confinement at first, with the population avoiding all sorts of places and staying at home. After that period, when the virus was unknown, it was understood that parks and green areas were lowrisk areas and provide physical and mental well-being during the lockdown [29][30][31][32].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobility Patterns of the Portuguese Population During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study

Tamagusko¹,

Ferreira²

2021

Preprint

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This study analyzes the relationship between the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) and the mobility patterns of the Portuguese population. By reducing mobility, the idea is that contacts are reduced, countering the spread of the virus in the community. As an indicator of the spread of the virus, the reproduction number (Rt) was used. Data from Google's Community Mobility Reports was used to evaluate changes in mobility patterns. This report uses location data from Android mobile phone users. The locations are divided into retail and recreation, grocery and pharmacy, parks, transit stations, workplaces and residential. In this year of the COVID-19 crisis in Portugal, population mobility patterns have changed over the various phases of the pandemic. At first, all mobility was affected uniformly, with the population avoiding much of the activity outside the home. In a second phase, there was some adaptation, and the areas considered to be of lower risk had less impact, emphasizing the changes in the relationship between daily life and the workplace.

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Relationships between Local Green Space and Human Mobility Patterns during COVID-19 for Maryland and California, USA

Cited by 45 publications

References 40 publications

Nature’s Role in Supporting Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Geospatial and Socioecological Study

Nature’s Role in Supporting Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Geospatial and Socioecological Study

Impact of Changed Use of Greenspace during COVID-19 Pandemic on Depression and Anxiety

Mobility Patterns of the Portuguese Population During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study

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