Here’s How Well Georgia Complies With Stay-At-Home Order

GEORGIA — As the spread of coronavirus accelerated in recent weeks, more and more Americans have come under state or local stay-at-home orders and advisories, until this past weekend more than 95 percent of the population was affected. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said that as of 6 p.m. Friday all of Georgia is under a shelter in place order designed to slow the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic.

The order is scheduled to last at least through midnight on Monday, April 13. Under the order, all non-essential Georgia businesses are closed and residents who don't work at those essential businesses must remain at home.

The purpose of these orders and advisories is to minimize the spread of the virus, which is highly contagious, although the scope of the orders varies by state and locality. Compliance with them varies widely, too, as Google has demonstrated with its community mobility reports, and by the business data firm Cuebiq, which compiled its COVID-19 Mobility Insights. Both aggregate location data from cellphones to track the movements of large numbers of people.

As of March 29, Google reports that nationwide movement to retail and recreational locations, including restaurants, shopping centers, movie theaters and the like, dropped 47 percent against a baseline set for the weeks Jan. 3 to Feb. 6.

Travel to groceries and pharmacies fell 22 percent; to parks, to beaches and gardens 19 percent; to transport hubs such as bus and train stations, 51 percent; and to workplaces 42 percent. Mobility to places of residence showed the only increase, of 16 percent.

In Georgia, compliance is slightly better than the national average. On Thursday, Kemp tweeted, "My top priority is keeping Georgians safe and healthy. This executive order will help stop the spread of COVID-19 and flatten the curve."

As of March 29, Google reports that statewide movement to Georgia retail and recreational locations, dropped 67 percent against the baseline. Travel to groceries and pharmacies fell 36 percent; to transit hubs and similar locations dropped 53 percent; travel to workplaces was down 38 percent; and travel to parks, beaches and gardens decreased 24 percent. Mobility to places of residence increased 12 percent.

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In general, compliance is higher in urban areas of the Northeast, upper Midwest and West Coast than in rural areas, the South and the Great Plains.

The data comes with several important caveats:

• Tracking location does not show how often or how closely people come into contact with each other, and is not necessarily a predictor of infection.
• Rural residents often must travel farther to get groceries or other necessities, while city dwellers don’t have to move far to infect others.
• Higher-income residents often are able to comply more easily than low-income residents, whose jobs do not always allow them to work from home.

But public health experts agree that abiding by stay-at-home orders and advisories is critical to slowing the spread of the virus, or in “flattening the curve” of infection. Such measures are deemed so important that authorities have instructed police to break up large gatherings of people, and even begun arresting those who violate stay-at-home orders.

The methodology of the Google report can be found at the end of this document.

Related:

• What You Can, Can't Do Under Georgia's Stay At Home Order
• GA Coronavirus: 17 New Deaths, 1,200 Plus Hospitalized
• Resources For Local Businesses Needing Help During Coronavirus
• Kemp Faces Criticism For Not Knowing How Coronavirus Spreads
• Atlanta Hospital Will Open Expansion Early: GA Coronavirus