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According to mobility data from Google, the movement of people to stores increased just before Christmas, from December 21 to 23, but it fell dramatically during Christmas, more so on the first day of Christmas, but most stores they weren’t open that day.
Holidays were also drastically reduced on public holidays.
However, Vaidotas Zemlys-Balevičius, a data scientist at Euromonitor International, says it is too early to draw conclusions.
“We cannot say where is the holiday effect and where is the restriction effect,” V. Zemlys-Balevičius told BNS.
“We must admit that we still cannot say and we must wait until the beginning of January (data – SNB) to stabilize, because at the beginning of January we will be able to compare with last year,” said the expert.
He stressed that the information will be more accurate at the beginning of January, not only because the holidays are over, but also because it will be a year since Google began collecting population mobility data.
Google compares the daily mobility data of the population with the base period called pre-pandemic, from January 3 to February 6.
For example, the movement of residents to stores from December 21 to 23 was 49 to 54 percent. lower than in the base period, at that time on Christmas Day had fallen by 77 percent, on the first day of Christmas – by 91 percent.
The dynamics of the use of public transport was similar. Just before the holidays, 41-45 percent used it. fewer people than before the pandemic, 70% at Christmas and 79% at Christmas. Less.
At the same time, movement to the parks increased from December 24 to 25; On the first day of Christmas, people visited the parks as much as on average during the base period.
Movement in residential areas also increased: On December 25, it was 34 percent. higher than at the beginning of the year.
However, V. Zemlys-Balevičius points out that the latest data is ambiguous, as it may show cases where people went out for walks or invited.
“Maybe people just went for a walk because they just can’t go anywhere, they walk around the neighborhood and it automatically generates more activity. That does not mean that they went to others as guests. However, there are limitations to Google’s mobility data, “said the data expert.
“As mobility changes to the number of cases, we will see a real situation after the holidays,” he added.
Google data shows that in the late summer and early fall, the movement of the Lithuanian population was similar to that before the pandemic. However, as the situation began to deteriorate again, the tendency to avoid stores began to become apparent in October, but even then Lithuanians were still actively traveling to offices or other workplaces.
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