Google Launches New Tool To Help Track Lockdowns

On Thursday, Alphabet Inc's GOOG Google initiated a new tool to track whether social distancing measures are able to contain the outburst of COVID-19.

What Happened

Google released Covid-19 Community Mobility Reports for 131 countries illustrating if trips to shops, parks and workplaces dropped in March amid governments ramping up lockdown measures, Reuters reported.

The tool does not track live data but generates historical data 48 to 72 hours old using the Location History setting; if the user's device has it switched on.

Dr. Karen DeSalvo, chief health officer for Google Health and Jen Fitzpatrick, senior vice president for Google Geo, wrote in a blog post, “These reports have been developed to be helpful while adhering to our stringent privacy protocols and policies.”

Public officials can use this data to propose changes in grocery stores operating hours to avoid congestion, running parallel routes to avoid crowds at transportation hubs or close down parks/recreation facilities where the public is defying shelter-in-place orders.