Improving the Usability and Value of Human Mobility Data for Future Pandemic Disasters

This project will investigate how public health practitioners, response planners, and researchers use human mobility data during the COVID-19 pandemic to improve preparedness activities in future pandemic emergencies and disasters. We will analyze 41 interviews collected during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic about how mobility data were being accessed, used, interpreted, communicated, and applied policy and response activities in the United States and globally. This information will provide understanding about how mobility data are being used, what the limitations are for their use in operational environments and how these limitations can be overcome to make the data more usable and valuable. The project will help improve policymakers and response planners' knowledge of how to leverage human mobility data to mitigate the negative impacts of future pandemics and strengthen evidence based and data driven approaches to pandemic preparedness and response.