Data from: Disparate patterns of movements and visits to points of interest located in urban hotspots across U.S. metropolitan cities during COVID-19

We examined the effect of social distancing on changes in visits to urban
hotspot points of interest. In a pandemic situation, urban hotspots could
be potential superspreader areas as visits to urban hotspots can increase
the risk of contact and transmission of a disease among a population. We
mapped origin-destination networks from census block groups to points of
interest (POIs), such as restaurants, museums, and schools, in sixteen
cities in the United States. We adopted a coarse-grain approach to examine
patterns of visits to POIs among hotspots and non-hotspots from January to
May 2020. Also, we conducted chi-square tests to identify POIs with
significant flux-in changes during the analysis period. The results showed
disparate patterns across cities in terms of reduction in hotspot POI
visits. Sixteen cities are divided into two categories. In one category,
which includes the cities of, San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago, we
observe a considerable decrease in hotspot POI visits, while in another
category, including the cites of, Austin, Houston, and San Diego, the
visits to hotspots did not greatly decrease. While all the cities
exhibited overall decreasing visits to POIs, one category maintained the
proportion of visits to hotspot POIs. The proportion of visits to some
POIs (e.g., Restaurants) remained stable during the social distancing
period, while some POIs had an increased proportion of visits (e.g.,
Grocery Stores). We also identified POIs with significant flux-in changes,
showing that related businesses were greatly affected by social
distancing.