Oakland, California - Alphabet Inc's
Google has published charts showing how the
coronavirus has brought hard-hit Italy to a standstill, led to
runs on grocery stores around the world and prompted a stark
drop in going-out between Mardi Gras and St Patrick's Day.
The analysis of location data from billions of Google users'
phones is the largest public dataset available to help health
authorities assess if people are abiding with shelter-in-place
and similar orders issued across the world to rein in the virus.
The company released reports for 131 countries with charts
that compare traffic from February 16 to March 29 to retail and
recreational venues, train and bus stations, grocery stores and
workplaces with a five-week period earlier this year.
Google said it published the reports to avoid any confusion
about what it was providing to authorities, given the global
debate that has emerged about balancing privacy-invasive
location tracking with the need to prevent further outbreaks.
The data often correlated with the severity of outbreaks and
the harshness and breadth of orders imposed by governments.
Italy and Spain, two of the hardest-hit countries, both saw
visits to retail and recreation locations such as restaurants
and movie theaters plunge 94%. The United Kingdom, France and
Philippines had declines of more than 80% while India, which
went into a sudden 21-day lockdown on March 25, was also notable
at 77%.
In the United States, where state responses have varied
greatly, and in Australia, where good weather initially prompted
many people to go the beach before social distancing measures
were ratcheted up, the drops were less steep at under 50%.
In contrast, in Japan and Sweden, where authorities have not
imposed harsh restrictions, visits to retail and recreation
sites fell by roughly only a quarter. While in South Korea,
which has successfully contained a large outbreak through
aggressive testing and contact tracing, the decline was just
19%.
The data also underscore some challenges authorities have
faced in keeping people apart. Grocery store visits surged in
Singapore, the United Kingdom and elsewhere as travel
restrictions were set to go into place. Visits to parks spiked
in March in some San Francisco Bay Area counties under lockdown
in California, forcing them to later put the sites off limits.
The data also underscores how the mood of people around the
world has shifted. In New Orleans, during its annual Mardi Gras
celebrations Feb.16-25, which has with hindsight been criticized
for helping spread the virus, there were off-the-chart increases
in traffic to transit stations, parks and businesses.
A snapshot of Google's mobility report for South Africa.
But three weeks later in Dublin, heart of St. Patrick's
holiday celebrations, traffic was down at retail and
recreational venues as the country ordered big events canceled.
Within countries, there were wide gaps in behavior by
region. California, which was the first in the US with a
statewide lockdown, cut visits to retail and recreation
locations by half. In New York state, the slide in such visits
was gradual as officials waited to impose strict curbs but they
eventually fell 62%. By contrast, Arkansas, one of the few
states without a sweeping lockdown, had the smallest decline at
29%.
The coronavirus has infected more than 1 million people
globally, and Covid-19, the respiratory illness it causes, has
killed 52 000, according to a Reuters tally.
There were no reports for China and Iran, where Google
services are blocked.
BALANCING PRIVACY
Data in Google's reports come from users who enabled
Google's "Location History" feature on their devices. The
company said it adopted technical measures to ensure that no
individual could be identified through the new reports.
"These reports have been developed to be helpful while
adhering to our stringent privacy protocols and policies," Dr.
Karen DeSalvo, chief health officer for Google Health and Jen
Fitzpatrick, senior vice president for Google Geo, wrote in a
blog post.
China, Singapore, South Korea and other countries have asked
residents to use apps and other technology to track their
compliance with quarantines, but privacy activists argue such
measures can compromise individual liberties.
Infectious disease specialists have said analyzing travel
across groups by age, income and other demographics could help
shape public service announcements.
Google, which infers demographics from users' internet use
as well as some data given when signing up to Google services,
said it was not reporting demographic information. The company
said, though, it was open to including additional information
and countries in follow-up reports.
Google said consultations with officials in the U.S. and the
World Health Organization helped inform the data shared.
The company declined to comment on whether it has received
any legal requests to share more detailed data to help with
efforts to tackle the pandemic.
Facebook Inc, which like Google has billions of
users, has shared location data with non-governmental
researchers that are producing similar reports for authorities
in several countries. But the social media giant has not
published any findings.
Click here for Google's
.