Spatial changes in park visitation at the onset of the pandemic

TL;DR

This study analyzes how park visitation patterns changed across the US during the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic using mobile device data, revealing regional differences linked to demographics and political preferences.

Contribution

It employs Bayesian inference on large-scale mobile data to identify regional shifts in park visitation during the pandemic's onset, highlighting demographic and political factors.

Findings

Regions with no change had smaller populations

More Republican-leaning regions showed less change in visitation

Identified significant regional variations in park access during early pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the mobility patterns of a majority of Americans beginning in March 2020. Despite the beneficial, socially distanced activity offered by outdoor recreation, confusing and contradictory public health messaging complicated access to natural spaces. Working with a dataset comprising the locations of roughly 50 million distinct mobile devices in 2019 and 2020, we analyze weekly visitation patterns for 8,135 parks across the United States. Using Bayesian inference, we identify regions that experienced a substantial change in visitation in the first few weeks of the pandemic. We find that regions that did not exhibit a change were likely to have smaller populations, and to have voted more republican than democrat in the 2020 elections. Our study contributes to a growing body of literature using passive observations to explore who benefits from access to nature.