Study: New York Has A Difficult Time Social Distancing

NEW YORK — 8.4 million people live in New York City, so asking residents to keep six feet apart from everyone else at all times was always going to be a challenge. A new study has found that New York is one of the most difficult places for residents to safely follow social distancing guidelines.

The study from WalletHub ranked New York 41st out of 50 states and the District of Columbia where it is easiest to safely social distance. Put another way, New York is in the bottom 10 worst regions for social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak.

The study looked at three factors in making the ranks: average time residents spent on social activities, the money they spend on social activities, and a "social environment rank" generally rating how easy it is to keep away from others.

While New York performed well enough in two categories, activities and money spent, its score was tanked by the third worst social environment rank, above just Mississippi and Alabama.

The study determined the social environment rank by weighing several different factors including:

• How residents performed on Gallup's Well-Being Index, particularly social well-being.
• How effective residents have been at cutting down on non-essential visits and interaction.
• Volunteer rate, or how many residents are volunteering to help out during the crisis.
• Share of residents who are part of a local group or organization
• Share of residents who are out exercising and physically active.

In particular, New York had one of the lowest volunteer rates, but also spent the fifth least on social activities.

The study's top-ranked states was Utah, which had the best social environment and spent the second least amount of time on social activities, followed by New Hampshire, Montana, Colorado and Alaska. States with a large amount of open land like Wyoming and Washington generally placed very well.

That's why it may not be a surprise to find that New York has had a rough time social distancing: it's often not big enough for social distancing. A separate recent study found that 98 percent of sidewalks in New York City are too narrow for ideal social distancing, and 74 percent fall below the bare minimum size requirements. An analysis by Patch found that just 12 of 51 streets in Greenwich Village had one block with a sidewalk wide enough for social distancing.

WalletHub's study used data from a variety of sources including the U.S. Census, Gallup and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The full study and rankings for all 50 states can be found here.