1 kmBorgheseGalleryVaticanMuseums CastroPretorioCircoMassimoSpadaGallerySanGiovanniValleAureliaRediRomaOttavianoPiramideLepantoTerminiCastelSant’AngeloSpanishSteps
TreviFountainColosseumPantheonForumMetrostations Museums-60 -40 -20 0 +20Rome,differencefromusual
foot-trafficlevel,%points
March4th-11th 2020TheFlaminiometrostation
mostlyservescommuters.
Trafficisdownbyjust4%TheQuirinalPalaceismore
popularwithItaliantourists
thanwithforeignersEstimatedfootfallatthe
metrostationsclosesttothe
VaticanhasfallenbyhalfSydney+27Singapore+4NewYork+1Madrid-5London-9HongKong-12Paris-17Seoul-19Tokyo-2412,462 Rome-366397,7552,2841264592,2771,281178128Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed-250025-50→Residentsofcitiesaffectedbycovid-19areheedingadvicetostayathomeChangeinfoot traffic around selected metro stations
March4th-11th2020, difference from usual level, percentage pointsSources:Google;Johns Hopkins CSSE; The Economist *To March 11th↑ Busier ↓ less busy↓ Average change
in foot traffic, %↓Confirmed
casesincountry*By four-hour period→Foottraffichas declined across Rome. Tourist areas have borne the bruntThe EconomistMarch 14th 2020 73T
he photoslook like stills from “28 Days
Later”, a post-apocalyptic film. In St
Mark’s Square in Venice, pigeons outnum-
ber tourists. Madrid is closing prestigious
art museums, including the Prado and the
Reina Sofía. Beijing’s Forbidden City has
been shut for weeks. Football matches are
being played in front of empty stands.
The quarantines and directives to avoid
travel set up in response to covid-19, a new
disease, have reduced visits to tourist sites.
But do these eerie images reflect a broad re-
treat from public spaces? Data from Google
show that the virus has indeed prompted a
sharp decline in overall foot traffic. They
also suggest that shops and restaurants in
places where covid-19 is now taking root
should prepare for similar slowdowns.
By tracking mobile phones, Google con-
stantly estimates how busy places are rela-
tive to historical averages. For example,
Rome’s central train station, Termini, is
typically most crowded at 9am on Fridays.
Google assigns this peak level a value of
100, and expresses footfall at other times as
a share of this maximum. The average val-
ue throughout the week at Termini is 30.
March 6th, however, was an unusual
Friday. Even though Rome was not yet sub-
ject to an official lockdown, at 9am that day
Google reported a foot-traffic level at Ter-
mini of just 31, 69 points below the average
for that time. The pattern was similar at
other times, and at 14 other stations and 11
museums in Rome—though the declines
were steeper in tourist areas than in places
frequented by locals. In total, Rome’s met-
ro was about one-third less busy during the
past week than normal, the biggest drop-
off among the 18 cities we tracked. More-
over, the decline in Rome’s pedestrian traf-
fic sharpened from 15% when the week be-
gan to around 50% when it ended.
Rome is the capital of a country with a
dire outbreak, but it reflects a broad pat-
tern. From March 3rd to 11th, footfall at met-
ro stations was below the usual rate in 12 of
the 18 cities. Among those 12, the average
drop was 15%. The other cities with big dips
were mainly in Asia, where covid-19 began.
In some Asian cities, the rate of new
cases has fallen and normal life is resum-
ing. Foot traffic in Hong Kong returned to
standard levels on March 7th. Conversely,
metro stations in New York are as busy as
ever, just as the city’s outbreak gathers
speed. If its counterparts elsewhere are any
guide, the worst lies ahead. 7Foot traffic has fallen sharply in cities
with big coronavirus outbreaksGhost towns
Graphic detailCovid-19 in cities