'Quarantine Fatigue' Makes Americans Stay Home Less: Study

A new study revealed more Americans are now making outdoor trips amid the coronavirus quarantine orders. The number of people staying home could still decrease as more states are preparing to reopen.

It seems as though Americans are already suffering from "quarantine fatigue," with more and more people going outside for the first time since states began enforcing stay-at-home orders. By tracking over 100 million smartphone data, researchers determined by April 17, the number of people who were presumed to be staying home because their smartphones did not move a least a mile a day dropped from the national average of 33% to 31% after six weeks of either increasing or holding steady.

Although it seems as though a 2% change is insignificant, the study's sample size is quite large, so even a "small" change is considered statistically significant. According to the researchers, it is also not surprising that the change happened on the week that challenges to the stay-at-home orders were made public by protesters as well as President Donald Trump.

"It seems collectively we're getting a little tired. It looks like people are loosening up on their own to travel more," lead researcher and director of the Maryland Transportation Institute, Lei Zhang said, according to The Washington Post, further noting that the number of people staying home will likely continue to decrease as states begin reopening.

In places like Georgia, Alaska, California and Florida, certain public facilities have already reopened.

According to Dr. Wilbur Chen, associate professor at the University of Maryland, it will take more time to determine whether the data merely shows a "blip" or if it is the beginning of a trend.

"But it all makes sense. If people are out and about, there's more risk of transmission, and when there's transmission, you have more cases of hospitalizations and deaths," Chen said.

Public health experts are concerned about the increase in travel, especially since staying home remains to be the most effective way to prevent the spread of the virus until widespread testing is available.

According to experts, people may be starting to think that it could be safe to violate the stay-at-home orders since governors are already beginning to publicly announce plans to reopen economies. However, they are still advised to stay at home and only go out only if they have to.