Social distancing responses to COVID-19 emergency declarations strongly differentiated by income

TLDR

Social distancing is a key non‑pharmaceutical intervention to curb SARS‑CoV‑2 spread, yet lower‑income communities already face higher health risks and limited healthcare access. The study uses an event‑study design on mobile‑device mobility data to examine behavioral changes following state emergency declarations. We find that wealthier areas reduced mobility more than poorer ones, with a reversal in pre‑pandemic mobility ordering, indicating that lower‑income communities exhibit less social distancing and face a double burden of COVID‑19.

Abstract

In the absence of a vaccine, social distancing measures are one of the primary tools to reduce the transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We show that social distancing following US state-level emergency declarations substantially varies by income. Using mobility measures derived from mobile device location pings, we find that wealthier areas decreased mobility significantly more than poorer areas, and this general pattern holds across income quantiles, data sources, and mobility measures. Using an event study design focusing on behavior subsequent to state emergency orders, we document a reversal in the ordering of social distancing by income: Wealthy areas went from most mobile before the pandemic to least mobile, while, for multiple measures, the poorest areas went from least mobile to most. Previous research has shown that lower income communities have higher levels of preexisting health conditions and lower access to healthcare. Combining this with our core finding—that lower income communities exhibit less social distancing—suggests a double burden of the COVID-19 pandemic with stark distributional implications.