The British public relaxed its adherence to lockdown restrictions in the weeks before they were officially loosened, according to new data. Across the UK people had already started to make more trips to parks even before Boris Johnson eased restrictions on movement.
On several occasions in recent weeks, people were going to parks at the same rate as they were before the lockdown. The data released by Google compares footfall based on the number of mobile devices detected in settings before and after restrictions were imposed.
The prime minister’s “Stay alert” address was aired on Sunday 10 May. It followed briefings from Downing Street that lockdown restrictions would be loosened, resulting in newspaper headlines, including “Happy Monday” and “Hurrah! Lockdown freedom beckons” on Wednesday 6 May.
The announcement did not immediately affect footfall in parks as the increases were part of a wider trend. However, the increase in movement in parks did coincide with Downing Street briefings and newspaper headlines that the lockdown would soon be eased.
Every day between 4 May and 8 May, movement in parks exceeded pre-lockdown levels, with footfall reaching 16% above the baseline on Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 May, the highest level since the lockdown began.
Footfall in parks has exceeded baseline levels – defined as the median footfall on the equivalent day of the week as recorded between 3 January and 6 February – on seven of the 10 days to 13 May, with weekdays experiencing the largest increases.
Conversely, weekend visits to parks are down on pre-lockdown levels, perhaps indicating that people are taking exercise on weekdays while avoiding parks on Saturdays and Sundays due to concerns about overcrowding.
The UK has also experienced a gradual increase in footfall in other settings, with activity in transit hubs and workplaces also edging up in recent weeks.
While these figures remain far below the baseline – the median footfall for the corresponding day of the week in January to February – the activity in transit hubs was 38% of the equivalent day of the week pre-lockdown on five days since 6 May, their highest since the restrictions were put in place.
Similarly, workplace activity reached 55% of pre-lockdown levels on the day of Johnson’s speech, although it should be noted that this compares that Sunday with a typical Sunday in January or February, and not a weekday, which would be busier.
The trends captured in the Google data collection are also reflected in other datasets. The government has published daily charts detailing transport changes in the UK since the onset of the pandemic, as part of its daily coronavirus briefings.
These show that, while the proportion of people using public transport remains low compared with normal times, the proportion of car journeys has been trending upwards in recent weeks, hitting 50% of the baseline on four consecutive days in the past week.
Apple data as of 19 May also shows that the number of people searching for driving directions was 35% lower than its January baseline, walking was 38% under and transit at 75% under. However, all three measures have seen rises in recent weeks.
While equivalent data for Italy and Spain shows that rates there broadly remain lower than that in the UK, searches for driving and walking in Germany and the US, where lockdown restrictions have been eased, have soared in recent weeks.
US car journeys exceeded baseline levels on both Friday and Saturday as yet more states loosened travel restrictions and were just 1% below the baseline on 19 May.
In Germany, driving was within 2% of the baseline level on the same date, while walking was 8% below and transit stood at 30% below the 13 January level.