Social distancing is one of the most critical components to flattening the curve for the COVID-19 pandemic. As defined by Lisa Lockerd Maragakis, the senior director of infection prevention, social distancing means to increase the physical space between people to slow the spread of the disease. The Center for Disease Control advises that people stay, at minimum, six feet apart from one another to help slow and stop the spread of COVID-19.
Social distancing acts, like working from home, taking online classes, and hanging out with friends and family members electronically, are substitutions for in-person gatherings that can help effectively slow the spread of the virus. Though this seems simple enough, there are a few states who have fallen short of effective social distancing, and at the top of that list is Wyoming.
In the Social Distancing Scoreboard, created by Unacast, the states are ranked by grade, A-F, on how well they social distance. Uncast is a country that tracks cell phone signals in order to track patterns in human mobility, ranked the states based upon these patterns to see how effective they were at social distancing. The United States has an average grade of an A as nationwide there has been a 40% decrease in the average distance traveled.
While most states have a C or above, there are a few that are ranked with a D. However, there is only one state that failed at social distancing and received an F. Wyoming, the least populated state in the entire country, received an F for social distancing according to the Social Distancing Scoreboard.
The least populated state in the nation failed at social distancing, while more populated states received A’s. According to Unacast, the distance traveled by Wyoming residents actually increased by 6% when the data was collected in March.
Wyoming has 94 cases of COVID-19 statewide, while their southern neighbors in Colorado, who received an A in social distancing, have 2,125 confirmed cases of COVID-19. When broken down, most Colorado counties received a grade of a D or higher, the majority receiving A’s. Meanwhile, Wyoming only had one county recieve an A, three receive a B, four receive a C, and five receive a D. The other ten received an F, contributing to the overall state ranking of an F.
Because Wyoming has fewer counties than Colorado, this shows how the data is averaged out. Colorado had many more countries receive an A, but they also had more counties in general to help average out their data. Wyoming only has 23 counties compared to Colorado’s 64 counties.
“I obviously don’t do it well. I try to limit my exposure to largely populated places but I still spend time with friends, but I am trying to keep my human contact within the same few people.” University of Wyoming student Allee Szewczyk stated. Szewczyk is currently living in Laramie, Wyoming which received an F in social distancing along with the rest of Albany County.
For many, the most difficult part of social distancing is staying away from friends and family members. University of Wyoming student Anya Blakemore shared a similar experience to Szewczyk. Like Szewczyk, Blakemore stated that she was practicing social distancing from large crowds, but still hung out with the same group of five to six friends.
“However, I think our state ‘grade’ is so low because of how much people commute for work. Many energy plants and coal mines are still opening and functioning and they take a while to get to. Same goes for people who work on ranches.” Blakemore stated.
There are many factors to take into consideration when looking at the data collected by Unacast. Unacast tracks movement patterns via cellular devices, but it cannot specify what that movement is for.
Even with social distancing heavily encouraged by the government, people are still able to leave their homes for necessities like grocery shopping for essential items. Unacast data is unable to decipher when a person is leaving their home for essential purposes, and this puts Wyoming at a serious detriment.
For most Wyomingites, the drive to the grocery store can be a day trip at most. Especially in parts of Midwestern Wyoming where the only food sources are gas stations or a church food bank. This drive time for groceries is counted as travel for Wyoming, which contributes to the state receiving an F for social distancing.
Many Wyomingites have to travel for work as well. While some work from home as their job was able to go online only, others are considered essential employees and have to report to work, whether in a city, coal mine, energy plant, or ranch.
“Because of the resources Wyoming provides for the rest of the country and world, many people are still currently employed and commuting.” Blakemore stated.
This is similar to grocery shopping as some essential employees, like restaurant workers or medical professionals, have to commute to their workplace. This commute can be an hour or so in some situations where they are unable to find a workplace near their home.
“Ultimately, I think social distancing is somewhat easy for most Wyoming residents because there are so few of us, but we are a state driven and motivated by the agriculture industry, which makes for several potential problems.” Everett Cotterman, a University of Wyoming student who moved back to her hometown of Wheatland, Wyoming due to the school closing the residence halls, is still considered an essential employee during this time.
Cotterman, who works as the mapping coordinator at Platte County Weed and Pest Control, is still working with landowners to map out areas where pesticides are needed. Currently, Cotterman is challenged with figuring out how to work with landowners while practicing social distancing, as well as figuring out how to safely get groceries and continue to live a somewhat normal life.
“In the event that social distancing turns into a statewide house-lockdown, I’m not sure how Wyoming’s economy will persevere.” Cotterman said.
The everyday normality of traveling long distances for essential purchases or commuting for work for Wyomingites contributes to a portion of why Wyoming received an F for social distancing. The Unacast data collection is an ongoing project and more data is collected each week by the company.
This will allow Unacast to continue to project social distancing scores throughout the duration of the pandemic, and hopefully, with consideration of those who drive long distances for essential means, Wyoming’s grade will improve.
In the meantime, everyone is still heavily encouraged to practice social distancing and doing all that they can to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 outbreak. Small steps like social distancing and self quarantine can make a big difference in slowing the spread of the virus.
