West Virginia earned a good solid B when it comes to social distancing, but Monongalia County earned an even better A and Preston County was given an average C for data collected March 26.
Unacast, a New York technology company that collects and examines and analyzes phone GPS information, has assembled a national “Social Distancing Scoreboard,” to see whether people are following directives from health care officials to stay home to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus.
According to a recent article in the Washington Post, Unacast used the reduction in the total distance traveled as an index to determine if people are self-quarantining. Unacast’s data, updated daily, can be found here unacast.com/covid19/social-distancing-scoreboard.
“This (social distancing) is our most important tool to decrease the transmission of COVID-19,” said Archana Vasudevan, a Mon Health infectious disease physician.
“It is extremely important that people stay home and decrease the transmission in our community, not just to protect ourselves and our households, but also our most vulnerable population, including our elderly who may have the worst outcomes.”
Unacast’s location data came from games, shopping data and utility apps Americans have installed on their phones, the Post said.
To come up with its grades, Unacast gave an A to states and counties that showed at least a 40% decrease in average distance traveled.
Unacast gave a B to areas where travel dropped 30% to 40%. States and counties, where travel only dropped 20% to 30% were given a C, a D was awarded for travel that only declined 10% to 20%, and an F was given for 10% decline or less. Wyoming was the only state that received an F.
The surrounding states of Pennsylvania and Maryland both were given an A, while Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky received a B.
The United States, as a whole, received a B.
The reason people are told to keep six feet apart is because that is the length that a germ can travel from person-to-person with the main mode of transmission being large droplets.
“Social distancing is a key strategy to ‘flatten the curve,’” said Arif Sarwari, an infectious disease physician with WVU Medicine.
“The latter simply means that instead of having 5,000 patients overwhelm the health care system over two to three weeks, we slow down the rate of infections.
“Much easier, and safer for both patients and their providers to have the same 5,000 patients seen over two to three months instead.”
Unacast said the top five states that are successfully practicing social distancing are the District of Columbia, Nevada, New Jersey, Vermont and Massachusetts. The bottom five in descending order are New Mexico, C; Idaho, D; Hawaii, D, Montana, D, and Wyoming.
New York also received an A and California was given a B.
Because the elderly or people with underlying health problems are much more susceptible to the virus, Vasudevan said it might be best for young children to curtail visits with grandparents.
“The best way to prevent the infection is to avoid visits for now and any close contacts,” she said. “Video chats help families stay closer while minimizing any risk of transmitting the infection.”
