On Thursday, April 2, The New York Times published a story that collated anonymous cell phone data from a data analytics firm to determine where in the United States people were still traveling the most during the coronavirus crisis – and Guilford County showed up near the top of the list.
In calmer times, that might be just an interesting piece of trivia. However, as The Times points out, average distance traveled each day is a fairly good indicator of the rate at which people are interacting with other people – despite orders in many places, including Guilford County, to stay at home unless a trip is absolutely necessary.
The Times used information gathered from Cuebiq, a data collection firm that looked at data from every county in the United States. Compiling the data from around the country created the list of places “Where people were still traveling the most on Friday [March 27].”
Guilford County is 4th on the list that no one wants to be at the top of in these days when staying home is the smart thing to do. Guilford County followed number one Greenville County, South Carolina, number two Jefferson County, Alabama and number three Duval County, Florida. On Friday, March 27, those were the only four counties where travel still averaged over three miles a day.
Greenville County drivers averaged 3.4 miles that day and Jefferson County came in at 3.1 miles. Both Duval County and Guilford County came in right at 3 miles of travel.
The Times article points out that not all travel is necessarily problematic, “But broadly higher levels of travel suggest more contact with others and more chances to spread or contract the disease, researchers said,” the article stated. “Counties with lax travel policies risk not only becoming the next hot spots of the disease, but also acting as reservoirs for the virus that reignite infection in places that have tamped it down, they said.”
Everybody turn off the GPS in their phones and cars we would be at the bottom of the list.
Exactly
You know it is okay to get into your car and take a ride across town just to get out! And perfectly ok to use your cell phone. We can exercise and get groceries. This report is annoying! Big brother is watching!
I agree
This article was written by Donald Trump so that he could scream fake news fake news fake news and blame it again on the press not that this article is not correct because the person that wrote it just did not do their research but who cares anyway not a lot of people
People still do have to work dig bat
UMMM.
Maybe this has something to do with the fact that Greensboro and Guilford county is a transportation hub [FedEx, Amazon, UPS, US Mail, let alone all the trucking companies “that are essential”]. What about the city busses, the trains, the Uber and Lyft drivers, the pizza and food delivery folks? Every one of these companies uses GPS tracking for inhouse accounting! I see nothing to tell me that the NYT is differentiating between us plebes that are staying home and the trucking and delivery services that are short hall and long haul operators.
Your few lines of comment are more logical, intelligent, and well thought out than the entire NYT article.
The writers of The New York Times live in an environment where grocery shopping is a matter of going to the ‘corner store’, literally. The seems to be a grocery or bodega on every corner. Here in the hinterlands, grocery shopping, or shopping for anything, necessarily involves more travel than the denizens in a large closely compacted population center. Misleading study- almost like the time worn analogy of comparing apples and oranges.
Obviously, the writers at the Times have too much time on their hands.
We just moved from Guilford County back to Michigan and I can attest that EVERYTHING is much further away in Guilford County. The closest grocery store and pharmacy were at least three miles from our house. A Target (which offers curbside pickup) was 13.5 miles if taking the fastest route from our house in the Greensboro area. Here in MI it’s approximately 1.5 miles to the grocery/pharmacy and four miles to a Target.
“…The Times points out, average distance traveled each day is a fairly good indicator of the rate at which people are interacting with other people…
This is ridiculous criteria and has nothing to do with people being in contact with other people. And seriously, the fastest route to some essential places can often be a few miles longer (taking 73 vs 220 for instance).
I agree as well.
Amen this is a joke ppl are traveling anywhere and everywhere its not the only Guilford County their all living in La-La land
Guilford county employs many people that live outside of the county. It is the home of the largest UPS facility in North Carolina. The essential employees that work there are from every surrounding county, so travel into and out of is going to be higher since there are four shifts per day. This is a vague report in my opinion.
Omg…I still have to go to work on the daily to support my family of four and the roads are barely being traveled. I love it!!! Because I am like one of the few cars on the road. ..morning, afternoon and night time. I am just an observer, however it is complete facts. Just saying.
you are exactly right I go to and from work and there maybe 1 to 5 cars I may pass and that’s both ways there and home. I don’t know what database their using but Guilford county is a huge county with high point and Greensboro being Guilford co. Just crazy to me to even see us at #4
So says the Luciferian Globalist controlled New York Times. Billy Gates is up to something folks and it’s not in our best interest. Search Event 201 and ID 2020 and see what this b****d wants to implement. Christians! It’s time to fight this spiritual battle. It’s time for pastors to open the churches despite unconstitutional orders. Enough is enough! Pastors, it’s time to grow a pair and be as Jesus who whipped and overturned the bankers out of the Temple! You whimp pastors will pay for this if you fail to act!
Good Response
I am surprised the NYT would publish that article considering their General Care Help Center is in Greensboro.
This is not accurate data as the collection date was the day Guilford County’s stay-at-home order began at 5:00 pm. People were running errands that day before the order took effect.
I think as a resident of the county it is important to include a big factor in that article in defense of the citizens here. The data is very skewed because the day that they sampled was the day that all on Guilford County and Greensboro were supposed to start the stay at home order. It is my belief that the citizens within the county were out and about making sure they had everything from their work and getting all supplies they would need to be able to follow the stay at home order.
I have personally been very proud of our county compared to a lot of other areas (especially with its size) and feel the numbers reflect greater compliance than this article is suggesting.
Where did my comment go? Does it have to be approved first or was it deleted?
Disappointed that the Rhino Times has evidently drank the Cool-aid. Aside from the disturbing fact that our phones are mined for information, some people have to drive over 3 miles to accomplish an essential errand, some people might just want to go for a drive (which can be done without interacting with anyone), some people have had to make a part-time job out of figuring out what restrictions go into effect when and local vs. state. I would have expected the Rhino to call out the NYT article in a number of ways, but sadly it just went along with the madness.
After two weeks of working from home and being locked down in a small townhome, yes, the hubs and I got in the dang car and went for a ride to nowhere. Didn’t interact with a single person. Today, we rode up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Again, no interaction with any other humans. If this is what we need to do to keep our sanity, this is what we’re going to do. We’re not exposing ourselves or anyone else. What’s the problem, NY Times?
Wonder if data included info on how many people live more than 3 miles from grocery store or how many essential businesses in vicinity. Example guilford county has large FedEx and UPS facilities as well as other distribution centers & wholesale resellers.
That story is fake news. I did a 40 mile bike ride today by myself and I took my phone with me. Probably pinged off half a dozen cell towers or more. I am sure there are hundreds maybe thousands? of other people doing similar activities on bikes or walking/hiking in Guilford Co. Doesn’t mean we are spreading the virus.
Maybe it means guilford Co residents are being more active and doing healthier activities than most other counties in the US.
High Point and Greensboro In Guilford County Stay at Home order took effect at 5:00 pm March 27th so this story is misleading.
Exactly.
This was the day the stay was initiated and most likely the data was collected prior to the 5pm start, so for me this doesn’t say much about travel now in Guilford County or any of the other places.
That’s rich coming from the city that still has packed subways and buses. Rural communities have to travel farther to get groceries, etc., but I also believe we are out too much.
What this data does not take into account is how far is to travel to grocery stores, gas stations, or other essential services. Not everyone lives in a the “big city”. Guilford Co. has a mixture of both urban and rural components.
If this is not taken into account – garbage in = garbage out.
The New York Times is a liberal propaganda machine. Do they even take into consideration the land mass of Guilford county compared to the population and how far we have to drive get to a grocery store or post office. Idiots
Ah, yes. New Yorkers are the last people to tell anyone how to do it.
What do we expect when Love Life purposely drove down from Charlotte to Greensboro to defy police and the stay st home order. Now they are suing the police dept for enforcing the stay at home order. Their supporters are saying Not in communist China would 4 men get arrested for praying on the streets. They dont know communist China. Our son is a math teacher in Beijing. The American teachers have been in lock down since Thanksgiving. People were getting arrested for being out in the streets for not wearing a mask. Stay at home and quarantine is the only weapon agsinst the virus. I hope all these ppl defying the order are the ones who get sick. Im doing what ever is necessary not to cause harm to others or myself. I lost my job because of this virus&everyone else should do the same. The longer there are outbreaks, the linger we all remain unemployed and the longer our hospitals and first responders are stretched thin. Love Life-stay home, close your doors, pray in private & take your judgment and shaming stones with you!
Can we expect no less when Love Life purposely drove from Charlotte to Greensboro to defy the stay at home order in both cities. Their leaders posted not in communist China would men be arrested for praying in the streets. They dont know communist China. My son teaches in Beijing. He has been sequestered at home since Thanksgiving. China was arresting anyone in the streets who wasn’t wearing a mask. And yes you would get arrested in china for worshiping and praying in the streets. Um doing what Im asked to do to protect myself and others. I lost my job and many have lost their lives or are in ICU fighting for their breath. I expect love life to do the same! Stay home and take your bag of hypocrite rocks with you. Be careful throwing those stones. You might hit yourself with them
This may be telling of our unwillingness to stay home, but I don’t think it tells the full story. The data only gives activity, and not the purpose of said activity. I’m a shopper for both Instacart and Shipt, providing services to those who can’t or don’t want to go to the grocery stores. A large portion of the people I see in the stores are shoppers like me. This is confirmed by the store employees who state that close to half of the customers are contract shoppers. My husband works in construction, and my adult son in food service. My other two children haven’t left home in weeks. Also, I have many extended family members who work in healthcare. My point being, it’s not a fair assessment.
THANK YOU FOR HELPING THOSE OF US WHO CAN’T GET OUT TO GET OUR GROCERIES DUE TO OUR AGE OR OUR HEALTH (LOW IMMUNE SYSTEMS)!
I’m in the latter category and it is scary for me to HAVE to go get my prescription medication. Some of my medicine can’t be delivered. It has to be picked up at the pharmacy. I wouldn’t go if I had a choice.
So THANK YOU again for risking your health/life for us!
Why were some people’s comments approved and not others??
Look at the dates of the data collection. Our stay at home was issued two days before the end of that period when everyone was scrambling for stuff.
Ready fire aim journalism!
Agreed. Publish now. Do the research latter.
Guilford County is home to FedEx and UPS, 3 hospitals, multiple skilled nursing facilities, several manufacturing businesses, and several parks where people are getting much needed exercise to decompress stress.
Yost, Guilford County and the surrounding area represents the Nations 4th largest home building market. Could the unusually amount of high traffic be construction and service workers? Sometimes it’s better to get first hand empirical data by visiting the place your reporting on. Statistical data is not always revealing nor accurate.
Hilarious. People are definitely not out in Guilford County. What a wack article.
Two possibilities are that many parts of Greensboro are not very walkable- you can’t easily walk to a grocery store or pharmacy, you may have to drive a couple of miles. On top of that, large areas of the city are a food desert, with no grocery store within a mile. People have to drive or take a taxi or bus quite a distance out of necessity here.
Them democrats is doing unconstitutional unlawful things.
Leave us alone, we stay inside and travel only when we needed, many people still have to work… government not paying us, it is not a prison…I only been out 2 times in 2 weeks, same for my neighbors…
And some of the Covid-19 cases we have “might” have originated from flights out of La guardia or Newark to PTI?
according to my cell phone # I live in Guilford county, but I don’t. I am wondering if they are accounting for the fact that your cell phone number is the same no matter where you move.
I use my phone when I use my rewards so I may be 5-6 miles from home.This article is pure BUNK.Everything that comes from the myth is not worth reading .When will they (nyt)learn that most of the print from nyt is not worth reading.Fake News number 1 in America.Just wondering when will those few Dems that buy this paper will wise up and STOP paying for this JUNK.
NY Times: “Tracking Travel”:
Three(3) miles: Ridiculous! Went for a hike alone in Uwharrie National Forest …… about 1 hour drive from GSO. Never anywhere near anyone. Total “social isolation”!
Drive to Lexington from GSO once a week (51 miles one way) to check on my property. Go alone, no contact with anyone ….. complete “social isolation” …..
What the NYT does not seem to realize is that all 4 of these counties are rural! Greenville is the only big city in Greenville County, SC so if you work in the city and live in the country guess what? You have to drive to get to work. And it’s basically the same thing for the rest.
Randolph County has become a bedroom community for Guilford so people are driving to get to work.
Maybe our food deserts are becoming easier to follow also!