Cellphone tracking data collected by a New York City-based firm called Cuebiq measures the effect of the COVID-19 shutdown and stay-at-home order.
The chart below shows the average percentage of people in Putnam, Dutchess and other Hudson Valley counties whose phones moved fewer than 330 feet per day during the week that ended April 27.
The darker the purple, the more people who are staying close to home.
The peak day of isolation locally was Monday, March 23, when 55 percent of the residents of Dutchess and 60 percent in Putnam did not go far. The data since mid-March suggests that just under half of Highlands residents are staying home on any given day, compared to about 20 percent in January.
Did phones not move more than 330 feet from some point, or 330 feet during the day? Despite being home all day, I am doing so much work around the house and garden, and going up and down stairs, that Google Fit is showing that I do at least 5,000 steps. Today, for example, it says I have walked 1.36 miles.
The data measured whether a person moved more than 330 feet in any direction. Cuebiq also calculated the percentage of people who moved less than a mile, less than 10 miles and more than 10 miles, but that seemed like apples and oranges to compare New York City with the Highlands, since here we must usually drive more than a mile to get groceries and other essentials.