More Americans have traveled away from their homes in the past week compared with the preceding 6 weeks, a new analysis from the New York Times found, showing that states' decisions to reopen parts of their economies have increased mobility across the country.
The analysis was based on cellphone data, and showed that 25 million Americans left their home on average each day of last week. In every part of the country, the percentage of Americans staying home dropped, for an overall average of 36.1% of Americans staying at home.
The Times found the peak staying-at-home activity occurred in the 2 weeks after Mar 20, when almost all states first issued stay-at-home orders.
The states with the highest proportion of residents staying at home during their peak were New York (54% of residents), New Jersey (53%), Massachusetts (52%), and Michigan (50%). The percentage fell in all four states as of last week, to 39% of residents in Michigan (the largest drop in the country) and to 45% or 46% in the other states.
Public still wary of gatherings
Despite that movement, the strong majority of Americans still say they do not expect to safely gather in groups of 10 or more until at least July.
That information comes from a new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll published today. More than two thirds of adults surveyed said it will not be safe for gatherings of 10 or more until midsummer, and 25% said it will not be safe until 2021 or later.
Eighty-six percent polled said they believe it's important to stay 6 feet away from others in public, and 80% said it was important to wear a mask. Seventy-eight percent said it was important to stay home when possible.
Overall, 58% of Americans polled said they are very or somewhat worried about contracting and getting ill from COVID-19, down from 63% last week.
Model predicts 110,000 deaths by Jun 6
Today the United States has 1,385,639 COVID-19 cases and 83,648 fatalities, according to a USA Today tracker.
A biostatistician at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has created an ensemble COVID-19 forecasting model that compares and merges various predictions of the virus; by Jun 6, the model predicts 110,000 US deaths.
The model takes into account projections made by eight other modeling groups, including those built by the Imperial College London, the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Columbia University, and Northeastern University.
Leaked CDC guidance at odds with White House
Yesterday during a Senate hearing on coronavirus response, lawmakers took Robert Redfield, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to task for not providing more detailed guidance to states on when and how to open up.
But today the Associated Press published a 63-page draft guidance composed in April by the CDC, that offered more details on reopening, but was largely shelved by the White House.
Some of the recommendations echo those in the White House's "Opening Up America Again" plan, which was released on Apr 17. But the CDC's guidance offers more strict recommendations when it comes to non-essential travel, and is more realistic in stating that a region could expect a surge of new cases upon reopening.
Cal State move online for fall 2020
The largest state university system in the country, the Cal State University (CSU) system, announced yesterday almost all courses offered during the fall 2020 semester will be online.
The decision involves 770,000 students in the system, all of whom moved to distance learning in March. Some students and courses will be allowed in person, but the offerings are limited.
Universities in at least six states have said they plan to return to campus in the fall, including the University of Alabama, the University of North Carolina system, Texas Tech University, the University of Tennessee, the University of Louisiana system, and Morgan State University in Maryland.
In other California news, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti yesterday announced the LA County stay-at-home order will likely be extended through the next 3 months. The order affects 10 million residents. Some businesses, restaurants, and beaches will open throughout the county—with restrictions in place.
More rare inflammatory illnesses in kids
Boston Children's Hospital has seen six cases of a rare, inflammatory syndrome linked to COVID-19 in pediatric patients, and the Bay State Medical Center said clinicians there have seen a "few" of the same cases in recent weeks, according to WBUR Boston. Massachusetts is now the third state with documented cases of the pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome, which can be fatal, and has been most widely documented in New York.
Today New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said there have been 102 suspected cases of the inflammatory syndrome in the state, including 3 fatalities. Eighty-two of those cases were in New York City.
Of the pediatric patients in New York, 60% of the children showing symptoms of the syndrome had tested positive for the virus, and 40% tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies.
Neighboring New Jersey today also reported 18 cases of the syndrome in children, 4 of whom tested positive for the coronavirus.
