Google recently offered anonymized user location data to health officials seeking to monitor people’s behaviors during stay-at-home orders meant to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The goal of providing the data is to see how well people in certain areas of the United States are heeding stay-at-home orders by tracking the movements of people’s cell phones as they carry them to the grocery store, pharmacy, or park. Such would allow health officials to assess how well the government’s orders are being followed and, along with monitoring infection rates, help determine whether the orders should be strengthened or loosened.
