Google data showing Filipinos are staying at home

In this article by Ian Nicholas Cigaral for Philippine Star, he reports the data on the mobility of Filipinos during the community quarantine in the Philippines.

Using mobility data collected by Google and Apple (this is collected from phones that had their location services turned on), Cigaral discovered that majority of Filipinos have opted to stay home. Google’s data showed that transport movements sank by 90% in March and April compared to mobility data in January and February. 

Even in Central Visayas where Cebu City is located, travel to retail outlets in June sank by 70-80%, mere days before Secretary Roy Cimatu was deployed to oversee Cebu City’s COVID-19 response. Trips to groceries  dropped as much as 65% in one day. 

Editor’s Note: In recent weeks, the national government has been quick to blame the “complacency” of Filipinos for the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country. But this claim falls apart with Google’s data.

So then the question is: why are our coronavirus cases increasing, even with a majority of Filipinos adhering to lockdown policies? [Perhaps now if the best time to review Dr. Knut Wittkowski: A second wave of coronavirus infections will come as a direct result of social distancing and self isolation].  But the even bigger question is: What did the government do in the last 100 days to usher in the full lifting of all lockdowns? Why did the government impose a hard lockdown in Cebu when mobility data is showing that a majority of residents in the area are still opting to stay at home? [The ineffectiveness of lockdowns in controlling the spread of the coronavirus has been proven in a number of countries in the world, visit the article category Is A Lockdown Necessary?].