Good job, Nevadans! It looks like the Silver State is totally nailing this whole social distancing thing. According to this Social Distancing Scoreboard from mobility data company Unacast, Nevada is in the top five states when it comes to the change in average distance traveled by residents. The scoreboard is updated daily, though, so we have to keep it up if we want to remain at the top. Read on to learn all about what the scoreboard has to say about what states are social distancing properly and how Nevada currently fares.
According to WHO and the CDC, social distancing is considered the most effective way to slow the spread of COVID-19. To show states how they are currently doing when it comes to actually keeping distance from each other, Unacast created a handy Social Distancing Scoreboard. So far, Nevada is doing pretty well!
Using the scoreboard, you can physically see your community's social distancing activity both before and after COVID-19 cases started popping up around the U.S. Specifically, Unacast uses the data from location services on mobile devices. Using the percentage change of average distance traveled, they then gave each state a "Social Distancing Score."
Currently, Nevada has fared well with a solid A scoring. The scoreboard shows that Nevada has had a -50% change in average distance traveled since February 22, 2020. This is the third-largest percentage change in the country, with only Hawaii and District of Columbia topping us. The other states in the top five are Massachusetts and New Jersey.
The scoreboard also breaks down distance traveled by county, so you can see exactly where in Nevada this change is taking place. Currently, the top five counties that ranked best are Clark, Douglas, Carson City, Washoe, and Nye. The bottom five counties were Elko, Lander, Stores, White Pine, and Eureka—all of which received F scorings.
Although we're happy to see that Nevada is taking social distancing seriously, we should also take the scoreboard with a grain of salt. Unacast acknowledges that the real world situation of social distancing is complex, especially when you live in a rural area where you have to travel for miles just to go to the grocery store.
Unacast has stated that they are actively working to improve the scoreboard by adding more metrics to rank states by. However, the data that is currently presented is still very valuable in proving that social distancing can have an actual effect on slowing the spread of COVID-19 and coronavirus.
According to this nifty virtual scoreboard, Nevadans definitely deserve a pat on the back—a metaphorical pat on the back, that is. Keep it up, Nevada, and hopefully we can slow this pandemic to an official end sometime soon.
Have you been practicing social distancing responsibly? This scoreboard is a great tool to see the actual impact that social distancing can have on slowing the spread of coronavirus and COVID-19. Share with us your tips and experiences in the comments below!
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