key: cord-0052238-ko7pmtig
authors: Amagasa, Shiho; Kojin, Hiroyuki; Inoue, Shigeru
title: Mobility Trends Reports Revealed “Self-isolation Fatigue” in Japan: Use of Mobility Data for Coronavirus Disease Control
date: 2020-07-08
journal: JMA J
DOI: 10.31662/jmaj.2020-0031
sha: e140acce00325ff11c6cc477ab95e6ac9967a7e9
doc_id: 52238
cord_uid: ko7pmtig

nan

20-22. According to an analysis using Community Mobility Reports from Google (5) , there was a sudden increase in Park visits, particularly in Tokyo, on the 3 day weekend starting on March 20 th when the blossoms were at their peak. The number of people has increased by 40% compared with the baseline (5) . Given the incubation period for COVID-19, it is almost definitely the case that the spread of infection was prompted by people going out on the 3 day weekend.

The number of people driving is worth noting. Besides the sudden increase in travel by car on the 3 day weekend in March, many people continued to drive afterward. Although some decrease was evident, that decrease was small compared with the decreases in people moving through mass transit and walking. Automobiles are convenient and afford a high level of freedom and, unlike mass transit, allow people to move about while avoiding close contact with an unspecified large number of people. In general, it is therefore understandable why travel via cars tends not to decrease even during infectious disease epidemics. Given these mobility data, we may anticipate the appearance of coronavirus fatigue and large number of people going out with family or friends via cars during Golden Week (GW; a week-long period with several national holidays covering parts of the last week of April and the first week of May). The worst-case scenario, in which people from urban areas where infections are prevalent travel outside the city and spread the disease to people in provincial areas, is possible to occur.

As of April 19, in Japan, driving had decreased by 32%, mass transit by 45%, and walking by 47% (2) . However, these decreases are smaller than those in the leading industrialized nations where infections are spreading and mobility remains high (3) . This is probably because although a state of emergency has been declared in Japan, it is not backed by a strong legal force. On April 16, the government expanded the state of emergency to the entire nation (2) , one of the aims of which was to minimize the movement of people during GW, but more specific recommendations are needed. Even though a state of emergency has been declared, unless more in-depth measures are taken, it is possible to see an increase in the movement of people during GW from coronavirus fatigue and selfisolation fatigue. Measures to limit driving as well as the use of mass transit may be needed. (3) and the novel coronavirus infectious cases report (4) , respectively. DOI: 10.31662/jmaj.2020-0031 JMA Journal: Volume 3, Issue 3 https://www.jmaj.jp/

World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation reports

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. About Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation

COVID19 Community Mobility Reports

SA prepared the first draft. HK and SI revised the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.