Source: Dec. 13, 2020 Toronto Star. Click on image to enlarge it.
Jennifer Yang, Toronto Star (Dec. 13, 2020) presents mobility data, March 2020 and November 2020 lockdowns – THREAD
Following is a Twitter thread from Jennifer Yang of The Toronto Star. The Dec. 13, 2020 Toronto Star article that the thread references is entitled:
“What cellphone mobility data can teach us about why lockdown might not be working, and what to expect from the holidays.”
The gist of the article is that infections are rising in Toronto, and social contacts need to be reduced.
THE THREAD:
NEW: Mobility only dropped 1% in Toronto in the week after 2nd lockdown, cellphone data shows—and it remains higher in outer areas with bigger proportions of essential workers.
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Left: Mobility in 1 week after spring lockdown
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Right: Mobility after 2nd lockdown
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Jennifer Yang
Christmas is coming, so we also wanted to know: how have people been behaving on holiday weekends? Holiday mobility fell this year compared to 2019, but the biggest drop was on Mother’s Day, when COVID fatigue was least acute—and TO still saw an uptick in cases afterward
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Some Torontonians were more likely to go out on holiday weekends: Those who live in wealthier areas, which have some of the city’s lowest COVID rates. People in lower-income areas that have been harder hit by COVID stayed home more on holidays.
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The data also shows that tons of people visited York Region shopping malls in the week after Toronto and Peel locked down, but York stayed open. More than 39,000 Torontonians descended upon 3 malls in York that week — enough people to fill the Scotiabank Arena twice over.
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The dataset, provided by Environics Analytics, has several limitations, and can’t tell us if people are actually gathering. But the province’s Science Table is also using mobility data to gauge the second lockdown’s impact, and the data can point to gaps in the current strategy.
[End of Twitter thread from Jennifer Yang]
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