Florida ranks 16th nationally in social distancing, but more people are venturing out

Since mid-March, Floridians have been staying home and limiting travel at a higher rate than in 34 of the country’s 50 states, but residents are starting to grow weary of staying at home, according to a University of Maryland study that uses cellphone data and other information to track movement.

Florida ranked 16th highest out of the 50 states in the university’s “social distancing index,” from March 11, the day the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a worldwide pandemic, until April 25, the most recent date for which data is available. The index is a statistic that represents how many residents and visitors are practicing social distancing.

Florida’s social distancing index from March 11 to April 25 was an average of 50 out of 100, on a scale where 0 represents no distancing and 100 means everyone is staying home. The index was compiled by using privacy-protected data that cannot reveal the specific user from mobile devices, government agencies, health care systems, and other sources.

New York had the highest social distancing index of any state in those same five-and-a-half weeks, with a rating of 63. Wyoming had the lowest rating at 33. Most of the states that ranked higher on the index are densely populated with major urban areas, while rural, sparsely populated states tended to rank lower, likely because moving around poses less of a threat in less-populated areas and essential trips require longer travel distances.

That trend of densely populated areas ranking higher on social distancing also was true in Florida.

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties were among the counties with the highest social distancing index ratings in Florida from March 11 to April 25: Miami-Dade’s rate was 57, Broward’s was 57, and Palm Beach’s was 55. Sparsely populated counties in Florida’s Panhandle had much lower social distancing index rates.

But fewer Floridians are staying home in recent weeks, a development that is occurring in a majority of states around the country

From April 3 to April 10 — shortly after Florida’s stay-at-home order was imposed on April 1 — the state’s social distancing index was 60. But that number has been falling, meaning more people are traveling. Statewide, it, decreased to 58 from April 10 to April 17, and further decreased to 55 from April 17 to April 24.

Miami-Dade and Broward’s decision to impose stay-at-home orders on March 26, a week before the statewide order, seems to have worked. While Florida’s statewide social distancing index for March 26-April 1 was 60, Miami-Dade’s was higher, at 65, and Broward’s was 64.

Palm Beach County, which did not issue a countywide stay-at-home order ahead of the rest of Florida, had a social distancing index of 61 from March 26-April 1.

“It seems collectively we’re getting a little tired. It looks like people are loosening up on their own to travel more,” Lei Zhang, lead researcher and director of the Maryland Transportation Institute at the University of Maryland, told The Washington Post.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has defended Florida’s approach to fighting the coronavirus in recent days, arguing that the state properly balanced public health concerns without shutting everything down at the first signs of COVID-19.

“Everyone in the media was saying Florida was going to be like New York or Italy and that has not happened,” DeSantis said at the White House on Tuesday.

In contrast to other coronavirus hot spots, Florida’s social distancing index has been lower — much lower, in some cases. Manhattan’s social distancing index from mid-March to April 25 was 78, and Boston’s was 65. New Orleans was 55.

The index was complied by calculating how many residents stayed within one mile of their home, the average number of trips taken per person, the percentage of trips taken outside of a county, the average number of miles traveled by each person, the number of work-related trips taken per person and the number of non-work related trips taken per person.

The data is an imperfect measure of individual behavior, as a socially distant car trip to a remote area for physical activity and a two-block walk to a crowded grocery store carry different levels of risk for contracting COVID-19. But Zhang said the aggregated data is a consistent way to measure how much people move about in their communities.

Florida’s Department of Health announced 83 new deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday morning — the highest reported on a single day — bringing the statewide death toll to 1,171.

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties announced Monday that recreational facilities would reopen, the first significant rollback of emergency measures imposed throughout March that have shut down thousands of businesses and closed off public and private recreational areas.

This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 2:55 PM.