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Thousands of Visitors Flocked to Georgia as Restaurants Reopened, Location Data Reveals

Mobile phone location data reportedly shows that an additional 62,440 visited the state.

How badly do you really need a burger? Tens of thousands of visitors reportedly flocked to Georgia a week after the state allowed dine-in restaurants, hair salons and other businesses to reopen. Mobile phone location data reported by the Washington Post shows that an additional 62,440 visited Georgia, mostly from surrounding states. “It's exactly the kind of effects we've been worried about,” said Meagan Fitzpatrick, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “This is not an unpredictable outcome with businesses opening in one location and people going to seek services there.” A total daily average of 546,159 people traveled to Georgia from other states in the week after business reopened—62,440 more trips daily than in the week before the reopening. Just over 90 percent of the visitors came from four bordering states: Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Florida.