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. 2020 Aug 18;117(33):19658-19660.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2009412117. Epub 2020 Jul 29.

Social distancing responses to COVID-19 emergency declarations strongly differentiated by income

Joakim A Weill  1 , Matthieu Stigler  2 , Olivier Deschenes  3 , Michael R Springborn  4
Affiliations

Social distancing responses to COVID-19 emergency declarations strongly differentiated by income

Joakim A Weill et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

In the absence of a vaccine, social distancing measures are one of the primary tools to reduce the transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We show that social distancing following US state-level emergency declarations substantially varies by income. Using mobility measures derived from mobile device location pings, we find that wealthier areas decreased mobility significantly more than poorer areas, and this general pattern holds across income quantiles, data sources, and mobility measures. Using an event study design focusing on behavior subsequent to state emergency orders, we document a reversal in the ordering of social distancing by income: Wealthy areas went from most mobile before the pandemic to least mobile, while, for multiple measures, the poorest areas went from least mobile to most. Previous research has shown that lower income communities have higher levels of preexisting health conditions and lower access to healthcare. Combining this with our core finding-that lower income communities exhibit less social distancing-suggests a double burden of the COVID-19 pandemic with stark distributional implications.

Keywords: COVID-19; inequalities; social distancing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Daily mean mobility measures in the United States from mobile devices for weekdays from January 1 to April 21, 2020 by quintiles of median income at the census tract (Left) or county (Right) level. Thicker lines indicate the top and bottom quintile. Each panel shows a different measure of social distancing behavior. Data are from SafeGraph, PlaceIQ, and Google.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Event study estimates of the change in a mobility measure (each panel) relative to state emergency declarations, differentiated by median income quintile at the census tract (Left) or county (Right) level. Error bars represent 90% CIs. State declaration occurs at day k=0.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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