The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Kenyans to stay more at home and this has been shown quite well from Google data. Kenya announced its first COVID-19 case on March 13th and started a 7 pm to 5 am curfew on 27th March.
Google collects a lot of data and one of the key data they collect is location data. They are putting such anonymized location data into interesting projects and their latest one is due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Google came up with a website where you can see how your community is moving around differently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data is updated regularly and it is data from approximately 2-3 days prior.
According to the latest data, Kenyas have stayed 17% more at home compared to the baseline figure. Google says the baseline figure is the activity recorded on various points of interest for a 5 week period between January 3rd and February 6th 2020. This figure is rising as we continue to adjust to the new world order.
The data also shows that there is a 22% dip in workplaces pings due to the fact that some Kenyans are not going back to their places of work. Parks have also registered a 20% dip in activity.
The biggest dips in activity include retail and recreation (45% dip), transit stations (39% dip) and grocery and pharmacy (33% dip).
These insights are calculated based on data collected from users who have opted in to location history for their Google account. Google says that this data is based on the user settings, connectivity and whether it meets their privacy threshold.
Although these insights are quite interesting, Google says this may not represent the exact behaviour of a wider population.
