Stats appear to show extent of drop in people’s movements

Scottish Greens Highlands and Islands MSP John Finnie has praised people in Orkney for complying with government advice to stay at home and protect the NHS.

Mr Finnie has pointed to research from Google, which appears to show that, in Orkney, visits to non-food shops are down 83 per cent, while workplaces have seen a drop of 61 per cent as many people heed advice to work from home.

Google’s Community Mobility Reports use anonymized data collected by people who have google accounts and have their location history settings turned on. Google says this setting is off by default and has to be turned on. As such, these numbers may not be 100 per cent  representative of people’s movements, but they may give an indication of how much people are making an effort to abide by the lockdown measures

The MSP said: “The current situation is putting people under an enormous amount of pressure and changing the way we all live our lives. As this data shows people on the Orkney Islands have made significant changes to their daily routines and they deserve an enormous amount of credit for that.

“Only by following the official guidance to stay at home can we protect the NHS and save lives.”