Millions of Americans have been planning end-of-summer trips to get away. According to AAA, booking trends reveal that Americans are currently making travel arrangements, though cautiously and more last-minute. As for mode of travel, road trips are accounting for 97% of summer trips, enabling travelers to tailor their schedule and identify rest stops based on their comfort level, as well as capitalize on low gas prices.
However, the CDC is continuing to caution against travel, and some states have issued restrictions for incoming travelers such as mandatory testing and required quarantine. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut launched a Tri-State Quarantine. Earlier this month, New York City set up quarantine checkpoints along main bridges and tunnels to intercept travelers from “high-risk” states, warning them to isolate for 14 days or risk paying fines up to $10,000.
In order to understand whether incoming out-of-state travelers are complying with various state restrictions, we conducted an analysis.
Traveler Analysis Methodology
In our analysis, we focused on incoming travelers to new states within the past 14 days. For each state, we analyzed incoming travelers to calculate the percentage of those travelers that were sheltering in place within a 14-day period.
- If a device only moved within 330ft from its home location, we considered that device to be sheltering in place.
- Taking into account the total population and ratio of residents and travelers in each state, we also provided an estimated value of the total number of absolute travelers.
And the Groundbreaking Results Were…
The data revealed some interesting findings, especially with regard to travelers from high-risk states. From August 8–21, travelers from Florida to New York only sheltered in place at a rate of 19.6% upon arrival, indicating that about 80% of those travelers did not shelter in place for the 14-day quarantine required upon entering New York. Travelers from Virginia, another state on New York’s mandatory quarantine list, sheltered in place at an even lower rate of 15.7%.
It will be interesting to see whether low-risk states like New York will ramp up enforcement of restrictions, in light of the number of travelers coming from states with higher COVID-19 confirmed cases.
If you’re interested in getting more customized insights about self-quarantine compliance of travelers, be sure to check out Cuebiq’s Traveler Analysis.
By combining these insights with Cuebiq’s full suite of Mobility Insights, you can also analyze the types of places visited by non-compliant travelers, such as bars.
