Cell Phone Data Shows People Are Not Following Social Distancing As Prescribed

The current pandemic situation has affected all the industry, including tech also. However, technology is that sector which is being used by government officials to determine their next strategy. Recently a data company released the report based upon users location data, and they tried to figure out how many people are following social distancing as prescribed. The report shows more than 50% of people stayed at home on Easter Day, which was quite an excellent achievement considering it was a festival; still, people stayed at their home. SafeGraph is the company that gathered the data of people’s cell phones, and for this study, they analyzed more than 18 million cell phone uses data.

The company looked at the pattern of how many people are staying at home by tracking their location, and they found out that after Easter day, the percentage of people staying home decreased frequently. On 27th April, it was approximately 40% of the analyzed cell phone users who stayed at home. Federal government, including state government planning of reopening economics based on the number of people, have been locked down for the last month. However, this report shows a different side of the picture.

SafeGraph said that they witnessed many regions following social distancing as prescribed mainly in counties areas; still, some areas didn’t manage to do so. A few people are criticizing this data because they are violating their privacy issues. However, the company said they collected data of only those who gave permission. Many people have given consent to the health official apps like this one to provide the correct information about their location. Some experts are saying that the people who did not follow social distancing were because of the non-work travel they did, which might be an essential thing for them.