Rico’s Covid-19 Digest – There is no doubt that the national emergency due to the coronavirus covid-19 pandemic has affected life in Costa Rica. The government has put in place measure to slow contagion, among them physical distancing, known more widely as social distancing.
But how much as daily life in the land of Pura Vida really changed?
According to Google, considerably.
The search engine (and much more) has published Community Mobility Reports aimed at providing insights into what has changed in response to policies aimed at combating COVID-19.
The reports chart movement trends over time by geography, across different categories of places such as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residential.
Here’s what you need to know as at March 29, 2020, in Costa Rica, compared to baseline*:
- 68% fewer people are visiting places like restaurants, cafes, shopping centers, theme parks, museums, libraries, and movie theaters.
- 41% fewer people are visiting places like grocery markets, food warehouses, farmers’ markets, specialty food shops, and pharmacies.
- 71% fewer people are visiting places like national parks, public beaches, marinas, dog parks, plazas, and public gardens.
- 68% fewer people are using public transport h such as bus, and train stations.
- 39% fewer people are visiting places of work.
- 21% more people are staying at home.
* The baseline is the median value, for the corresponding day of the week, during the 5-week period Jan 3–Feb 6, 2020.
Click here for the Costa Rica PDF from Google.
How long will these reports be available? Google says the reports will be available for a limited time, so long as public health officials find them useful in their work to stop the spread of COVID-19.
See the reports for all other countries here.
