Santa Clara County Residents Still Exercising Caution: Report

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Despite the easing of restrictions and over half of eligible residents receiving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Santa Clara County is among the nation’s most cautious metropolitan areas when it comes to visiting public places.

According to a San Francisco Chronicle analysis of Google cell phone data, Santa Clara County is in the top five in the country for several categories regarding percent decrease in visits to a public location.

In the first week of April, county residents’ visits to transit stations were down by 59 percent and workplace visits decreased by 47 percent compared to January 2020 — possibly due to many Silicon Valley employees still working from home and not commuting.

However, visits to retail and recreation areas were down by a third compared to January 2020, and trips to groceries and pharmacies decreased by 13 percent.

The statistics were part of a larger area trend. San Francisco residents had the highest decrease in visits to groceries and pharmacies, retail and recreation, transit stations and workplaces out of all metropolitan areas in the country, the Chronicle found. Alameda County was also high on the list in those categories.

Since issuing the country's first shelter-in-place order in March 2020, Santa Clara County officials have preached caution and often gone beyond the state’s restrictions in implementing public health orders throughout the pandemic.

One area that saw an increase in visitors was parks. According to data from April 14, county residents are going to parks at a rate that is 4 percent higher than in January 2020.

Santa Clara County moved into the orange tier in the state’s COVID-19 blueprint in late March amid a decline in cases.

Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle here.