JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Public health measures, specifically physical distancing policies, have been implemented throughout the world, playing a major role during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Human mobility data has been used as a potential novel data source to guide policies and response planning. The COVID-19 Mobility Data Network (CMDN) facilitated the use of human mobility data around the world. Both researchers and policymakers assumed that mobility data would provide insights to help policymakers and response planners guide their activities. However, the evidence that human mobility data were operationally useful and provided added value for public health response planners remains largely unknown.

Objective:

The aim of this qualitative study focuses on advancing the understanding of the use of human mobility data during the early phase of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The study explored how groups, from local jurisdictions in the United States to national ministries around the world used this data in response planning and policymaking. The study also identified themes related to processes and ways of working that were facilitators or barriers to use.

Methods:

This was a qualitative study of 45 individuals during the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic using grounded theory and the constant comparative method with an inductive approach.

Results:

While some teams used mobility data for response planning, few were able to describe their uses in policymaking, and there were no standardized ways that teams used mobility data. Mobility data played a larger role in providing situational awareness for government partners, helping to understand where people were moving in relation to the spread of COVID-19 variants and reactions to stay at home orders. Themes included data preparation, results sharing, data translation, communication, and adaptation. Interviewees who felt they were more successful using mobility data often cited an individual who was able to answer general questions about mobility data, provide interactive feedback on results, and enable a two way communication exchange about data, meaning, value and potential use.

Conclusions:

Human mobily data was used as a novel data source in the COVID-19 pandemic by a network of academic researchers and practitioners using privacy preserving and anonymized mobility data. This study reflects the processes in analyzing and communicating human mobility data, as well as how this data was used in response planning and how the data was intended for use in policymaking. The study reveals several valuable use cases, including resource allocation and understanding impact of policies such as stay-at-home orders. However, there are also many opportunities to further develop the utility of mobility data, including understanding the limitations of aggregated data and rapidly changing environments. Ultimately, the role of a trusted partner, or data translator, was crucial in understanding the complexities of this novel data source, adapting workflows, visualizations, and reports to align with end users and decision makers, and communicating this information meaningfully to address the goals of responders and policymakers.