Apple mobility tracker reveals quarantine fatigue is setting in
Many Americans are driving, walking and using public transit after weeks in isolation. Should this be a concern?
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Fox News medical contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier said on “Fox & Friends” on Monday that spending time outdoors is “so important” amid the coronavirus outbreak as so-called “quarantine fatigue” sets in, but encouraged people to continue to take precautions.
“There are very rare cases of this virus being transmitted outdoors, which is why being outside when you can be is so important,” Saphier said.
She added that it’s still important to adhere to social distancing guidelines when outdoors in places like beaches because “it is still crucial to remember that this is a respiratory virus” and “is transmissible in the air.”
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“You want to keep your groups down. You don't want to have these big, large gatherings because that's just going to increase your risk of transmission,” Saphier said on Monday.
“You want to keep distance from people,” she added.
“Try to still maintain as much of that six feet as you possibly can because although we are flattening the curve right now, we still have thousands of people in hospitals across the country and we are not anywhere near being on the end of that curve,” she continued.
As of Monday, more than 965,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in the United States with more than 54,800 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Saphier made the comments on Monday reacting to Apple’s mobility trends report, which has found, using its mobility tool, that Americans suffering from “quarantine fatigue” are starting to spend more time outdoors even though stay-at-home orders are still in place.
The mobility trends report noted that while travel decreased across the country last month when states initially implemented the stay-at-home orders in an attempt to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, there was an increase in movement by the middle of this month.
“I don't really need an Apple digital mobility tracker to let me know we’re all a little tired of staying inside,” Saphier said on Monday.
However, she did say that “there is some interesting information that came out of that report that Apple released.”
She pointed out that the report “showed public transportation use across all the hot spots in the United States was down anywhere from 70 to 85 percent, which in my opinion that's a really good thing because if you actually look at the data that's come out when they have traced the infection to see where people are actually contracting the virus it’s been public transportation as well as indoors, in small gatherings … conference rooms, in people's homes.”
Saphier said the report validates that people aren’t using as much public transportation, “which is why we’re seeing [a] flattening of the curve.”
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She noted that people are spending more time outdoors, going to places like beaches.
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