A COVID-19 community mobility report prepared by Google shows the impacts of social distancing in Houston.
In the past few weeks, much has changed. Just a month ago the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo was heading into its second week of the season and life seemed to be going normal.
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Since then, Houston has witnessed more event cancellations, non-essential business closures and is now under the “Stay Home Work Safe” order until April 30.
Here’s how staying home and practicing social distancing has impacted mobility trends in Houston.
• Retail/recreation: Visits to retail and recreation attractions decreased by 45 percent compared to mobility trends recorded in early March.
• Public beaches: Despite it appearing that more people have been hanging out at parks, mobility to places like national parks, public beaches, and dog parks in the area has decreased by 27 percent.
• Grocery stores: Surprisingly, mobility to grocery and pharmacies has also decreased. Compared to earlier mobility trends, visits to these places has gone down by 23 percent in Houston.
• Public transportation: Mobility trends for public transportation, such as public bus and train stations, decreased by 47 percent.
• Workplace: The data also revealed 36 percent fewer people are reporting to their workplace and mobility to residential areas has increased by 13 percent in Houston.