Americans Begin to Ease Social Distancing

As the weather gets warmer and people get the urge to go outside, social distancing measures seem to be decreasing despite government officials and public health experts urging people to continue isolating.

In data collected by SafeGraph, the number of mobile devices that have stayed home across the U.S. is moderately decreasing since COVID-19 restrictions began in March. At a peak daily average of 50 percent on April 12, the number of mobile devices staying home fell back to near pre-restriction levels not seen since February.

The states where people are more diligent about socially distancing is unsurprisingly in states which have been hit harder by COVID-19. New Jersey, New York and Maryland saw the highest percentages of mobile devices staying at home, compared to Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, which saw the lowest as of April 30.