Association of cell phone location data and trends in COVID-19 infections during loosening of stay-at-home restrictions

Shiv T Sehra; Louis J Kishfy; Alexander Brodski; Michael D George; Douglas J Wiebe; Joshua F Baker

doi:10.1093/jtm/taaa177

Association of cell phone location data and trends in COVID-19 infections during loosening of stay-at-home restrictions

J Travel Med. 2020 Dec 23;27(8):taaa177. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaa177.

Authors

Shiv T Sehra^{1

2}, Louis J Kishfy^{1

2}, Alexander Brodski^{1

2}, Michael D George³, Douglas J Wiebe⁴, Joshua F Baker³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Mount Auburn Hospital, 330 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
² Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
³ Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 5 White Building 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics University of Pennsylvania, 902 Blockley Hall,423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6021, USA.

Abstract

We report that during the loosening of stay-at-home mandates, U.S. counties with more county level workplace cell phone activity had a more rapid increase in incidence of COVID-19. Though these results are not applicable at an individual level, they improve estimation of areas at higher risk of COVID-19 surge.

Keywords: digital technology; lockdown; mobility; network; spread.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Cell Phone / statistics & numerical data*
Communicable Disease Control* / methods
Communicable Disease Control* / statistics & numerical data
Electronic Data Processing / methods
Geographic Information Systems* / instrumentation
Geographic Information Systems* / statistics & numerical data
Geographic Mapping
Humans
Pandemics / statistics & numerical data
Physical Distancing*
SARS-CoV-2
Travel / statistics & numerical data*
United States / epidemiology