D+ Rating Makes Wyoming 3rd Best State for Social Distancing
Written by Andrew-Rossi on July 7, 2020
When it comes to social distancing, Wyoming gets the bronze.
So says Unacast, a website that uses human mobility data to analyze and observe national and local trends, business and otherwise. The site recently released its social distancing scoreboard, including an interactive map breaking down every state by county and also assigning them their own grades, classroom style. Overall, their data prognosis isn’t very good. The highest grade for any state was a D+, with the vast majority receiving an F grade based on three criteria.
Wyoming fared better than most states – but that’s hardly saying anything. Our state’s overall grade is a D+, based on three criteria. For two – Less than 25% Reduction in Average Mobility (Based on Distance Traveled) and Less than 55% Reduction in Non-Essential Visits – Wyoming got a flat F. Not good. But in the third, Greater than 94% Decrease in Encounters Density Compared to National Baseline, Wyoming can boost an A rating. This means there was 94% or more decrease in human encounters. Again, an achievement but not much to boast about given our state’s immense space and the lowest population of any of the 50 states. This is the main factor that secured Wyoming the 3rd best spot for social distancing nationally, only surpassed by Montana and Alaska. Also big. Also sparsely populated. On a Bighorn Basin basis, Park County got a D+, while Big Horn, Hot Springs, and Washakie Counties all got Cs.
You can explore Unacast’s interactive social distancing map for yourself by finding this link: https://www.unacast.com/covid19/social-distancing-scoreboard?view=state&fips=56
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