Table 1. Examples of questions by areas of inquiry.
| Situational awareness | Cause and effect |
| • What are the most common mobility flows within and between COVID-19–affected cities and regions? |
• What are variables that determine the success of social distancing approaches? |
| • Which areas are spreading the epidemics acting as origin nodes in a mobility network and thus could be placed under mobility restrictions? |
• How do local mobility patterns affect the burden on the medical system? |
| • Are people continuing to travel or congregate after social distancing and travel restrictions were put into place? |
• Are business’ social distancing recommendations resulting in more workers working from home? |
| • Are there hotspots at higher risk of contamination (due to a higher level of mobility and higher concentration of population)? |
• In what sectors are people working most from home? |
| • What are the key entry points, locations, and movements of roamers or tourists? |
• What are the social and economic consequences of movement restriction measures? |
| Predictive analysis | Impact |
| • How are certain human mobility patterns likely to affect the spread of the coronavirus? And what is the likely spread of COVID-19, based on existing disease models and up-to-date mobility data? |
• How have travel restrictions affected human mobility behavior and likely disease transmission? |
| • What are the likely effects of mobility restrictions on children’s education outcomes? |
• What is the potential of various restriction measures to avert infection cases and save lives? |
| • What are likely to be the economic consequences of restricted mobility for businesses? |
• What is the effect of mandatory social distancing measures, including closure of schools? |
| • How has the dissemination of public safety information and voluntary guidance affected human mobility behavior and disease spread? |