Human Mobility Restrictions and COVID-19 Infection Rates: Analysis of Mobility Data and Coronavirus Spread in Poland and Portugal

Artur Strzelecki; Ana Azevedo; Mariia Rizun; Paulina Rutecka; Kacper Zagała; Karina Cicha; Alexandra Albuquerque

doi:10.3390/ijerph192114455

Human Mobility Restrictions and COVID-19 Infection Rates: Analysis of Mobility Data and Coronavirus Spread in Poland and Portugal

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 4;19(21):14455. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114455.

Authors

Artur Strzelecki¹, Ana Azevedo², Mariia Rizun¹, Paulina Rutecka¹, Kacper Zagała¹, Karina Cicha³, Alexandra Albuquerque²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Informatics, University of Economics in Katowice, 40-287 Katowice, Poland.
² CEOS.PP, Porto Accounting and Business School, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
³ Department of Communication Design and Analysis, University of Economics in Katowice, 40-287 Katowice, Poland.

Abstract

This study examines the possibility of correlation between the data on human mobility restrictions and the COVID-19 infection rates in two European countries: Poland and Portugal. The aim of this study is to verify the correlation and causation between mobility changes and the infection spread as well as to investigate the impact of the introduced restrictions on changes in human mobility. The data were obtained from Google Community Mobility Reports, Apple Mobility Trends Reports, and The Humanitarian Data Exchange along with other reports published online. All the data were organized in one dataset, and three groups of variables were distinguished: restrictions, mobility, and intensity of the disease. The causal-comparative research design method is used for this study. The results show that in both countries the state restrictions reduced human mobility, with the strongest impact in places related to retail and recreation, grocery, pharmacy, and transit stations. At the same time, the data show that the increase in restrictions had strong positive correlation with stays in residential places both in Poland and Portugal.

Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus infection rates; human mobility; lockdown; population behavior; state restrictions.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Europe
Humans
Poland / epidemiology
Portugal / epidemiology
SARS-CoV-2

Grants and funding

This work is co-financed by Portuguese national funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, under the project UIDB/05422/2020 and co-financed by Polish National Science Centre, grant number 2020/04/X/HS4/00232.