Social distancing surges again in Fla. as virus cases rise, shutdowns loom

When Florida began its reopening in May, tracking data from cellphones showed what you would expect: People began moving and socializing in a quest for normalcy.

Then coronavirus made a comeback as new cases surged and Florida emerged as one of the nation’s hot spots. Now, that same cellphone data shows Floridians beginning to recoil at the alarming headlines and threats of new shutdowns. Social distancing, at least for the moment, is back.

The statistics are reported by Top Data and Cuebiq using anonymous cellphone data to record interactions that last more than five minutes.

In every state, an increase in those interactions is followed by an increase in COVID-19 cases, according to Sean Lansing, Top Data director of strategy.

In Florida, social interactions began to increase sharply after the Phase 1 reopening in early May, then again with Phase 2 and South Florida’s reopening in early June. Lansing said that by the week of June 17, social interactions reached its pandemic peak and the state began to see record numbers of new cases.

But the troubling headlines as the state becomes one of the nation’s focal points of the pandemic seem to have taken an effect on Floridians’ willingness to interact. Lansing said the state is seeing social interactions decrease and he expects that trend to continue in the days ahead if Florida follows patterns seen in other states.

Across the country, the analysis by Top Data shows that a decrease of human interactions normally reduces the average number of new COVID-19 cases but the effects start showing after a few days, this is mostly caused by the nature of the virus as the symptoms may take some time to manifest and the incubation period tends to vary from person to person.