US personal mobility up in June but still lagging pre-Covid levels

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - US personal mobility rose in the first three weeks of June in relation to May, but remains below pre-pandemic levels, data from the Department for Transport showed Tuesday.

Americans made an estimated 1.312 billion trips per day between 1-19 June, up 1% from 1.305 billion trips in May.

Mobility rose sharply in the first quarter of 2021 as vaccinations gathered pace and the number of new cases eased.

However, since March, the number of trips has been largely stable close at to the 1.3 billion level. In addition, trips remained around 8% below June 2019 levels, the same data showed.

This suggests that Americans are staying cautious in the face of the pandemic as contaminations are still occurring even with the country's relatively high vaccination count.

An estimated 153 million Americans, equivalent to 54% of the population, were fully vaccinated at the time of writing.

In addition, it is highly possible that teleworking is responsible for a large portion of the shortfall in mobility, as many workplaces in the service and tech sectors have yet to reopen. Some structural changes in habits may also be a factor, although that will only become apparent over the longer-term.

Mobility is likely to rise further in July and August during the high holiday season in the country when many Americans take to the roads or fly away.