More common sense can limit restrictions

Apr. 10--In evaluating the number of persons sheltering in place, Google software is helping officials on a state and federal level tap into location sharing on cellular phones, according to Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer.

"We have software we can use," Lehenbauer said. "It doesn't reveal who they are or collect every track that you make. It's all anonymous. However it can kind of show traffic patterns and flow of people moving about."

According to Lehenbauer, when they see more concentrated flow into tighter areas with more people out at retail stores, it shows there is less compliance with stay at home requests.

"I know that's all being evaluated at higher levels," Lehenbauer said. "Locally, during regular delivery trips of protective equipment, clinics and things we kind of see behavior patterns and we would just watch for that. I make regular drive-bys at retail stores to see how everybody's doing."

Lehenbauer said it is incredibly difficult to judge how many are complying with stay at home requests because so many come from such a large area to shop in Woodward.

While Lehenbauer would prefer people stock up for a week or two at a time, store purchase limits on certain items are forcing people to shop more often.

"We have people coming here from Oklahoma City and Amarillo," Lehenbauer added. "I've spoken to them. Because they're running out of critical items such as baby formula, people are having to drive all day to hit different stores to find certain supplies."

While the data that's analyzed is not location specific in order to protect users, it gives concentrated traffic patterns.

"That's part of some of those agreements that when you agree to use certain software of different phones," Lehenbauer said.

The data they receive is used to decide what message or statement to the public is working or needs changed.

Lehenbauer's biggest concern now is supplies. Because the area has lower numbers of positive test results, local officials are having a harder time getting the quantity of supplies needed. It take two to four weeks to get resupply on protective equipment.

"The higher ups (at state and federal levels) want us to get down to very low (within 2 or 3 days of running out) supplies before we get resupplied," Lehenbauer. "I'm running a tremendous risk if I do not have an estimated 30 day supply which is extremely hard to calculate."

While the raw numbers are positive and we're not seeing high rates of infection in the area, Lehenbauer said he would rather be over prepared in calculating regional needs. Since there is not enough testing being done, the calculations are a lot of guesswork.

"We're continuing with this strategy of hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Lehenbauer said. "And we're trying to be open about what we're preparing for."

According to Lehenbauer, they've actually had ideas they hadn't thought about coming from local citizens and professionals. He said the more he shares what Woodward County's first responder medical community is doing, more of those great ideas come in.

"Not everybody likes that approach, But I don't care for a government that doesn't tell me what's going on," Lehenbauer said. "I think the information is just as important as anything else. If you have the information, I think you can make your own decisions more wisely than a government can tell you to do."

At the end of the day, when this crisis has blown through, have we retained all of our freedoms and rights is a discussion Lehenbauer has had with county and city leaders.

Legislation isn't needed when people think for themselves, according to Lehenbauer.

"In Northwest Oklahoma, I just generally see a higher percentage of the population that applies more common sense in their daily lives," Lehenbauer said. "People are more resilient, they are more willing to pitch in and help others. Some of them to the point that you know they sacrifice, time and money to their own family. And they use more practical common sense."

According to Lehenbauer, a recent example of a failure of common sense of a few required a restriction be applied to Woodward's playgrounds, which are now marked with closed signs.

"I don't want any of those freedoms infringed on at all and neither do any of our leaders in the community," Lehenbauer stressed. "All the community leaders are looking at the big picture on this. They're thinking outside the box, and they want minimal impact on life, but at the same time they want maximum health and safety protection for the community."

Note: UNACAST offers high-quality data feeds with dense location data for multiple markets globally, building human mobility insights and models. One of those is a COVID-19 toolkit including an interactive social distancing scoreboard that is updated daily, to empower organizations to measure and understand the efficacy of social distancing initiatives at the local level where you can see your county's score.

To see Woodward County's social distancing score, go to https://www.unacast.com/covid19/social-distancing-scoreboard online.

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