Using volunteered geographic information to assess mobility in the COVID-19 pandemic context: cross-city time series analysis of 41 cities in 22 countries from March 2nd to 26th 2020

Abstract Objectives: Restricting mobility is a central aim for lowering contact rates and preventing COVID-19 transmission. Yet the impact on mobility of different non-pharmaceutical countermeasures in the earlier stages of the pandemic is not well-understood.Design: Trends were evaluated using Citymapper’s mobility index covering 2nd to 26th March 2020, expressed as percentages of typical usage periods from 0% as the lowest and 100% as normal. China and India were not covered. Multivariate fixed effects models were used to estimate the association of policies restricting movement on mobility before and after their introduction. Policy restrictions were assessed using the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Stringency Index as well as measures coding the timing and degree of school and workplace closures, transport restrictions, and cancellation of mass gatherings.Setting: 41 cities worldwideMain outcome measures: Citymapper’s mobility indexResults: Mobility declined in all major cities throughout March. Larger declines were seen in European than Asian cities. The COVID-19 Government Response Stringency Index was strongly associated with declines in mobility (r = -0.75, p<0.001). After adjusting for time-trends, we observed that implementing non-pharmaceutical countermeasures was associated with a decline of mobility of 10.0% for school closures (95% CI: 4.36% to 15.7%), 15.0% for workplace closures (95% CI: 10.2% to 19.8%), 7.09% for cancelling public events (95% CI: 1.98% to 12.2%), 18.0% for closing public transport (95% CI: 6.74% to 29.2%), 13.3% for restricting internal movements (95% CI: 8.85% to 17.8%) and 5.30% for international travel controls (95% CI: 1.69 to 8.90). In contrast, as expected, there was no association between population mobility changes and fiscal or monetary measures or emergency healthcare investment.Conclusions: Understanding the effect of public policy on mobility in the early stages is crucial to slowing and reducing COVID-19 transmission. By using Citymapper’s mobility index, this work provides the first evidence about trends in mobility and the impacts of different policy interventions, suggesting that closure of public transport, workplaces and schools are particularly impactful.Summary boxWhat is already known on this topic?Governments across the global are experimenting with a range of policy interventions to restrict movement in populations. Yet their impact is not well understood. There is an urgent need to understand how alternative policy approaches to restricting movement can impact on population mobility trends. What this study addsOur study finds that policy restrictions markedly reduced population-wide mobility. Closing public transport, workplaces and schools have among the largest associations with mobility declines.