Social Science Institute for Research, Education, and Policy<\/a> spotlight on COVID-19. \u201cI wanted to look at this more specifically in the context of Rhode Island given that we were one of the first states to lock down in a major way.\u201d<\/p>\nDiNardi divided the data into three periods for analysis: (1) before the governor\u2019s emergency declaration (Feb. 1-March 8), (2) from emergency declaration to the stay-at-home order (March 9-27) and (3) since the stay-at-home order (March 28- May 7).<\/p>\n
He found a precipitous rise in the SafeGraph data in the percentage of Rhode Islanders staying home following the state\u2019s emergency declaration on March 9. Prior to the state of emergency, between 20 and 25 percent of mobile devices in the state did not leave home on a given day. In fact, the percentage at home slightly declined in the weeks prior to March 9 \u2013 likely a result of warming temperatures through February and into March.<\/p>\n
Following the state of emergency, there was a sharp but steady increase \u2013 up to nearly 40 percent of devices remaining at home on a given day between March 9 and March 27. After the stay at home order on March 28, DiNardi found a small jump to approximately 45 percent, followed by a leveling off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this shows is that following the state of emergency declaration, people were taking this pandemic seriously and \u2013 for those who could \u2013 they started to make the decision to stay home. Likewise, businesses were also beginning to shut down or allowing people to work from home,\u201d said DiNardi. \u201cAnd this was happening prior to the stay-at-home order on March 28.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to DiNardi, Google data showed a similar pattern in terms of the amount of time people were spending at home over and above the amount of time spent at home during the month of January. Prior to the stay-at-home order people were spending about 20 percent more time at home relative to the January baseline, with that percentage increasing significantly after the March 9 state of emergency declaration until hitting a level off point after March 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is hard to make a definitive statement on what contributed most to people staying at home in Rhode Island. The impacts of the state of emergency declarations and stay-at-home orders are tough to pull apart from what else is happening\u2013 people are watching the news, they are taking things more seriously, and businesses are making decisions about reducing their workforce and working from home,\u201d said DiNardi.<\/p>\n
In terms of the relative effectiveness of stay-at-home orders, DiNardi noted their purpose extends beyond just encouraging people to physically stay home.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people might argue stay-at-home orders are government overreach or that it wasn\u2019t necessary given the increase of people staying home after the state of emergency declaration \u2013 but the stay-at-home order was likely effective in reinforcing social attitudes and perspectives on staying home.\u201d<\/p>\n
This seems to have held even as the state has begun to gradually reopen. Since May 7, DiNardi says the percentage of people staying at home has dropped off some but as of mid-June was still hovering around 40 percent according to the data \u2013 though it is expected for that to begin to trend down slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was concerned we might see a big jump following the lifting of the stay-at-home order,\u201d said DiNardi. \u201cEven with the reopening and recent protests, it appears that people got the message and continue to practice distancing.\u201d<\/p>\n
DiNardi noted the limitations of the data and cautioned that the information gathered through mobile devices is not perfect.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is only one way to measure social distancing,\u201d said DiNardi. \u201cAnd it could be considered the most extreme form of social distancing. But as we have learned more about ways to manage or minimize risk, we now know that there are ways we can social distance and take measures to protect ourselves and others, while also leaving the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
To read the analysis in its entirety<\/a>, visit the Social Science Institute for Research, Education, and Policy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 23, 2020 \u2013 A new analysis by a äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾ professor finds that Gov. Gina Raimondo\u2019s stay-at-home order, in combination with the state of emergency declaration, increased news flow and other safety precautions were effective in keeping a large number of Rhode Islanders home during the height of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75597,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-75596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}