As social distancing measures are enacted across the country, Kinsa’s data is showing a significant drop in illness levels. This indicates that the extreme social distancing measures put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 are working. However, our data shows that the timing of implementing policies had a significant effect on the health of the community. Jurisdictions that were slower to put social distancing orders in place spread more illness, resulting in a higher amount of the population getting infected.

The compounding effects of the early enacted social distancing measures on atypical illness

We looked at the illness levels between Santa Clara County in California and Miami-Dade County in Florida. In the infographic, you can see that the early and aggressive social distancing orders for Santa Clara were able to slow the spread of the disease and reduce illness throughout the county.

Santa Clara County placed many restrictions starting on Feb. 10. A shelter in place order was then put into place on March 17. Miami-Dade County, however, waited until March 12 before it issued a state of emergency — 32 days after Santa Clara announced theirs. In the infographic, you can see a drastic difference in the overall atypical illness levels between the two counties. This is most likely due to the early enactment and variety of social distancing orders that Santa Clara County put in place, which helped to keep the overall illness levels down.