Impact of COVID-19 on human mobility and retail sales in the US
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments had to rapidly implement lockdown policies that restricted human mobility to suppress the spread of the disease and reduce mortality. Because of the movement restrictions resulting from government responses to the pandemic, US retail sales declined by -22 2020 compared to the previous year. This study looks at the stringency of government policies, mobility patterns, and implied compliance levels. The relationships between these variables and the influence on retail sales serve to understand past human behavior and prepare for future pandemics. Retail losses varied dramatically across the US states, from -1.6 -38.9 those in the south were relatively resilient. Regression was used to identify statistically significant state-level characteristics. The greatest losses occurred in states with a high percentage of Democrat voters in the 2020 Presidential Election and those with large populations. A 10 Democrat vote is associated with a 2.4 with a high percentage of adults with less than a high school diploma were most resilient. The number of trips of less than one-mile per capita is defined as the mobility index as it has the greatest influence on retail sales, on average, across the US states. An increase of 10 associated with a 4.6 compliant and exhibited reduced mobility with increasing stringency. A rise of 1 index. States with a high percentage of Democrat voters, large populations, and located in the west tend to be most compliant. A 10 people voting Democrat is associated with a 5
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