translated from Spanish: Amid the pandemic increases mobility in cities with higher contagion

A Mobility Report in Chile from the Development University revealed that mobility is increasing in the Metropolitan and Tarapacá regions, two of the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. El Mercurio reported, the study found that daily travel has increased progressively in 10 regions, including areas that remain quarantined. The document counts as a trip the passage of the signal from a cell phone from one telephone antenna to another. It also compares the movements recorded between 9 and 15 March last, before the start of the pandemic, with the following weeks. Experts pointed out that in order to achieve effective results from health measures, mobility should be reduced by 60%. However, in the Metropolitan Region it fell by 30%, between the week of July 6 and 12, while in Tarapacá and Aysén he made them 29%, respectively. Researcher Loreto Bravo noted that initially there must have been “a major effect of ‘stay at home’, but this led to a wear and tear on people, who no longer want or can’t stay home for practical subjects.” In the same vein, he indicated that among the population there may be a perception of lower risk in regions with more contagion, due to good data from the last weeks delivered by the Minsal. However, he felt that this may cause the virus to continue to spread.

Original source in Spanish