8 charts and photos that show many Americans are over quarantines and lockdowns

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Memorial Day weekend drew large crowds to beaches, lakes, and boardwalks across the US. But enjoying the sun on the holiday isn't the only reason Americans are leaving their homes.

Data across hotel, restaurant, and flight platforms shows Americans are starting to leave their houses more to travel, shop, and get outside.

However, as people start to branch out beyond the confines of their homes, concerns of a second-wave of COVID-19 cases are growing, particularly as large crowds gather without masks or social distancing — a direct contradiction to CDC, government, and epidemiologists guidance.

Memorial Day gatherings came as the US approached and surpassed 100,000 COVID-19 deaths.

Yet, states are forging ahead in a patchwork of reopening levels. And now, different parts of the country are beginning to see a dichotomy between the number of new cases rising and declining.

In states such as New York, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, and Washington, new COVID-19 cases have been dropping steadily for weeks. But states including North Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia, among 17 others, the number of new cases increased during the week that ended May 24.

To highlight the change in behavior, we've rounded up data and photos that show Americans' return to the outdoors, charting the various ways people are beginning to resume more traditional activities.


Apple Map searches for directions are rising

Apple

Americans' mobility shows signs of a return toward normalcy as driving, walking, and transit map options all indicate an increase in user searches. 

Apple Maps data shows searches were on the decline from March but started to rebound in mid-April and returned to baseline levels toward the end of May. The increase in direction requests indicates that the users are getting out and about more.

But driving with stops and using mass transit puts travelers at risk of spreading infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 


Americans aren't flying much, but there has been an uptick the number of travelers since the pandemic began.

Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

Air travel took a major plunge during the pandemic with flights well below 2019 levels, according to data from the TSA.

While most forms of transportation saw a decline during the pandemic, air travel took one of the hardest hits with the number of travelers screened by TSA being down over 85% year-over-year. Planes are particularly risky for spreading the coronavirus because air travel requires touching many shared surfaces and presents a difficulty for social distancing, according to the CDC.

But despite the CDC's warnings about the risk of spreading infection through air travel, there has been an uptick in passengers since mid-April when flights reached their lowest point.

 


People are starting to stay in hotels again

Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

People traveling, whether it be by car or plane, appear to also be staying out more too. Data from STR, a company that tracks supply and demand data for the hospitality industry, reported data that shows hotel occupancy is increasing after a slump that started in parallel with initial reactions to the coronavirus outbreak in the US.

While hotel rentals are still more than 15% below where they were at the start of January, a slow and steady uptick in hotel occupancy indicates people are not only beginning to leave their houses more but also venture far enough to need a hotel booking. 

And even though staying at a hotel does not directly increase the risk of exposure to COVID-19, many of the activities involved with staying at hotels do, such as traveling, eating out, and situations that jeopardize the ability to social distance.


Americans are booking a lot more tables at restaurants

Ruobing Su/Business Insider

Businesses continue to suffer amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the restaurant industry being one of the hardest-hit sectors of the economy as states around the nation limited restaurants to take-out and delivery options for weeks on end. The freeze on dine-in eating put some restaurants out of business and others into tenuous situations.

Data from Open Table, an online restaurant reservation company, showed bookings plummet at the beginning of March as the country started to enter a state of lockdown. Those levels remained constant until the start of May, which overlaps with many states relaxing restaurant restrictions. Bookings indicate Americans are going out much more as reservations spiked toward the end of May.

Dine-in restaurants, particularly those with indoor seating, pose a level of elevated risk compared to take-out and delivery options but as restrictions ease, more and more people are opting to eat out.


Revelers packed closely together in the water during Memorial Day weekend at Osage Beach of the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.

Revelers celebrate Memorial Day weekend at Osage Beach of the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, U.S., May 23, 2020 in this screen grab taken from social media video and obtained by Reuters on May 24, 2020.Twitter/Lawler50/via REUTERS

Poolside gathering at the Lake of the Ozarks made headlines after people gathered to party at bars and restaurants. 

Missouri's new cases of COVID-19 rose 27% during the week which ended May 24. While other states like New York, which was the epicenter of the pandemic in the US, saw the number of new cases fall six weeks in a row.

"This reckless behavior endangers countless people and risks setting us back substantially from the progress we have made in slowing the spread of COVID-19," St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said in a statement about the lake activity.

The owner of the bar at Lake of the Ozarks said that social distancing is not a law and said all customers had their temperatures checked and those higher than 100.4 degrees were not admitted.


Crowds of spectators gathered at AceSpeedway in Elon, North Carolina for the season opener.