Travel In Essex County Drops Amid ‘Stay At Home’ Order: Study

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — As the spread of the new coronavirus has accelerated in recent weeks, more and more Americans have come under state or local stay-at-home orders. As of Sunday, more than 300 million U.S. residents in 41 states — including New Jersey — have been asked to stay home and slow the spread of the virus.

READ MORE: NJ Coronavirus Updates (Here's What You Need To Know)

Recently, Google examined cell phone data from users who have opted-in to the location history for their Google accounts, trying to see if people were obeying the decrees to avoid travel whenever possible. (Learn more about their methodology)

Essex County saw significant drops in several categories between the “baseline” of Feb. 16 and March 29, the study says:

• Retail and Recreation – 60 percent decrease from baseline
• Grocery and Pharmacy – 27 percent decrease
• Parks – 50 percent decrease
• Transit Stations – 78 percent decrease
• Workplaces – 43 percent decrease

Essex County also saw a 17 percent increase to “residential” destinations over the same time period, researchers said.

How does Essex County stack up against the rest of the nation?

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

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: 16 percent.

Nationally, 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 shows.

The report 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.

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.

This article contains reporting from the Patch national desk

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