Why Tri-Cities is doing worse on social distancing. Warm weather doesn’t help
Tri-Cities area residents have room for improvement on social distancing, with park visits on the rise and some people not changing their grocery shopping habits, according to new data.
Recent warm weather has only increased the temptation to visit parks for people who have spent weeks at home.
But state officials warned Washington residents not to let their guard down, particularly as more warm weather is forecast for much of the coming week.
Saturday should be windy in the Tri-Cities and Easter could be cool, with highs dropping to about 60. But high temperatures should rebound to a pleasant 74 by Thursday.
“Public fatigue of stay-home order” remains a serious risk throughout Washington, according to the state Emergency Operations Center’s situation report for Thursday, April 9, 2020.
Gov. Jay Inslee warned Washington residents Thursday that progress is being made against spread of the COVID-19 disease, but it isn’t time to ease social distancing.
“If we behave like we have gone back to normal, if we stop physical distancing, it could undo all our progress. It could get more people sick. It could get people killed,” Inslee said in a statement.
We’re not even at halftime in this effort,” Inslee said. “We know that the eyes of the country are on us. So let’s keep proving what’s possible when we stand united — but at least six feet apart — against this virus.”
So far, Tri-Cities residents’ results are mixed against Washington state and the nation at using social distancing to keep the new coronavirus in check, a Western Washington University administrator said in an online panel discussion Wednesday.
Jack Herring, dean of WWU’s Fairhaven College, who has experience using computer models to understand complex systems, cited new data from Google that shows how well Benton and Franklin county residents are following the state’s social distancing guidelines.
Google tracked the movement of mobile phones whose owners had enabled the location history option and found that their time in residential areas increased 13% from Feb. 16 to March 28, 2020.
Time in residential areas in all Washington counties also increased an averaged of 13%, and the increase averaged 12% nationwide, according to Google.
Tracking was done anonymously, Google said.
That six-week period from mid-February to the end of March is when COVID-19 disease cases began to rise sharply across the nation, and especially Washington state, which was an early hot spot.
Benton County
Benton County data was generally in line with state and national data, with the exception of park visits.
Badger Mountain, which remains open, has been busy with hikers, particularly since the weather has warmed.
According to Google data for the county:
▪ Trips to parks increased by 3% in Benton County, compared to a state average decrease of 11% and a national average decrease of 19%.
▪ Trips to workplaces decreased by 39% in Benton County, compared to a statewide average of 41% and a national average of 38%.
▪ Trips to grocery stores and pharmacies decreased by 23% in Benton County, compared to a state average of 26% and a national average of 22%.
▪ Trips to retail and recreation destinations decreased by 47% in Benton County, compared to a state average of 48% and a national average of 47%.
Franklin County
Franklin County, with many farm and food processing employees still working, has more trips to workplaces than average for the state and nation.
County residents also have not cut down on their shopping as much as residents of many other areas.
According to Google data for the county:
▪ Trips to workplaces decreased by 33% in Franklin County, compared to a statewide average of 41% and a national average of 38%.
▪ Trips to grocery stores and pharmacies decreased by 15% in Franklin County, compared to a state average of 26% and a national average of 22%.
▪ Trips to retail and recreation destinations decreased by 35% in Franklin County, compared to a state average of 48% and a national average of 47%.
▪ Trips to transit stations decreased by 59% in Franklin County, compared to a state average of 56% and a national average of 51%.
▪ Data was incomplete for trips to parks in Franklin County.
This story was originally published April 10, 2020 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Why Tri-Cities is doing worse on social distancing. Warm weather doesn’t help."
