Folks in the UK were more likely to be social distancing than their neighbors across the pond, with 69% of Brits reporting that they’d kept their distance when leaving their homes. That number is 12% lower in the States, where 61% of respondents said they had maintained their distance.
That said, people in the US were more likely to wear a mask than those in the UK. Of those we surveyed, 72% of respondents in America said they had worn a mask when leaving their homes in the last week. That number is just 42% in the UK.
The numbers above also give an idea of the inconsistency of advice (or at least the following of advice) between countries – protective priorities differ wildly across borders.
Major city movement is rising
Linked to protective measures is how people are moving around under Covid-19. To investigate, we used Citymapper’s Mobility Index data. This shows us the percentage of people moving in major cities around the world, compared to ‘normal’ times. Note: We looked at data from major cities in all the countries we studied above, but Citymapper doesn’t provide data on China.
In the chart you’ll see how each country was bustling with movement in early March, how things then dipped, and how things are now beginning to recover at different rates.
For example, at the start of March Parisians were on the move in the city of love pretty much as normal. At its lowest point, during lockdown on April 4, only 4% of the city was moving compared to normal levels. There’s been an impressive comeback, though – now, it’s the most active city we studied. With high uptake of both social distancing and mask wearing in France, citizens clearly feel safe enough to venture out in comparison to those in other big cities.
