CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As the Carolinas continue to gradually reopen from the coronavirus, anonymous cell phone location data show people in the Charlotte area are venturing farther and farther out.
An analysis of the most recent data collected by Descartes Labs shows while we're not back to where we were before this pandemic, for better or worse, we're certainly headed back in that direction when it comes to mobility.
The data documents the distance a typical person moved in a day from March 1 through May 15.
We've drilled down the data to the North and South Carolina counties that surround the Charlotte metro. The data shows people went from their normal routines of venturing away from home in early March to barely leaving the house a month later as politicians and health experts moved forward with stay at home orders and social distancing.
Even as Mecklenburg County leaders and law enforcement shared their repeated disappointment about the lack of social distancing, Descartes Labs' data shows Mecklenburg County stayed put more than any other county in the Charlotte area. The data showed the typical person traveled less than a half mile daily over a three-week period from late March to mid-April. Meanwhile, surrounding counties in more rural areas traveled at least triple that distance during that time, the data shows.
Despite a sharp decline in Mid-April, the data show mobility is slowly trending up.