Counties in the Southern Tier are receiving failing grades for social distancing based on human mobility data, which derives how much people are traveling and gathering based on cellphone data.
| County | Grade | Avg. Mobility | Non-Essential Visits | Encounters Density |
| Chemung | D- | D: 25-40% | F: 55% | D: 40-74% |
| Steuben | D | F: <25% | F: <55% | B: 82-94 |
| Schuyler | C | F: <25% | Insufficient Data | A: > 94% |
- Chemung County has had 106 cases with 74 recoveries and three deaths.
- Steuben County has had 238 cases with 151 recoveries and 38 deaths.
- Schuyler County has had 10 cases with nine recoveries and no deaths.
All three New York counties are scheduled to begin phase one of reopening on May 15.
None of the counties in New York State received an “A” grade and the highest grade of a B- was given out went to Essex, Hamilton, and Lewis counties.
National data company gives Twin Tiers failing grades for social distancing
New NY 23rd 
I would have expected it to be worse.
The Lancet today published an editorial that concluded that Trump should be replaced. “Americans must put a president in the White House come January, 2021, who will understand that public health should not be guided by partisan politics,” said the journal, which was founded in Britain in 1823.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31140-5/fulltext
Of course, the Trumpers will dismiss the Journal’s (of which they have no knowledge) editorial (which they will not have read) as FAKE NEWS pushed by the elite scientists. This view will doubtless be magnified and amplified on FOX and various other right wing outlets.
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It is easy to believe it won’t happen here, if it does it will affect strangers, if I do get sick I will recover, and so the cure (testing, contract tracing, quarantine) is worse than the disease. However, once one is infected, it is too late to reconsider.
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Well, it seems that the ratings are based at least partially on “distance traveled”. Which is stupid. Of course Steuben and Yates and other rural counties are going to have longer distances to travel, just to get anywhere. Not impressed by the rating system.
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Ratings were based on Change in Average Mobility, Change in Non-essential Visits, and Difference in Encounter Density, which I think would take the geographic differences you mention into account.
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Do we really want government tracking us like this?
Think of the possibilities if Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and others had this technology !
Those willing to give up a little freedom for a little security deserve neither.
I know everyone has heard this famous quote from a Founder of America.
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The technology exists, Gary; I see no problem when it is used for a legitimate purpose–preventing the spread of disease
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I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!
Rynstone—-
You are pretty unaware of the way the world works in 2020.
Those willing to give up a little freedom for a little security deserve neither.
—You have very little freedom when you are dead. No security either. Coronavirus kills. End of discussion. But see the last two paragraphs for some positive advice.
Think of the possibilities if Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and others had this technology !
—What a straw man!! All of them did just fine without modern technology. Maybe there was room for improvement, but the Germans in particular were quite efficient 90 years ago!! I would expect that lacking the ability to track via cell phone would slow the nefarious by only a little.
Do we really want government tracking us like this?
–Yikes!
–I always am tickled by defenders of the 2nd amendment applying for gun permits. They give their name, address,phone number to the GOVERNMENT so they can get a gun. Guess what will happen when the government wants their guns? They will have a nice concise list of gun owners. And they won’t be afraid to use it. They’ll show up at the gunowner’s door with an Abrams tank and say GIVE!
But I digress.
We leave a trail whatever we do. Have a bank account? A mortgage? A car loan? A personal Loan? A credit card? This means that you have a credit report with one or several agencies. You are tracked.
Use the internet? You are tracked. Purchases? You are tracked. Google? You are tracked.
Have a car? Some cars report back to the mothership. You are tracked.
How about a cell phone? Depending on the make, it calls home regularly, reporting usage, calls, location and other goodies.
Want to stop the government tracking you? Get rid of your cell phone. Get rid of your bank account, credit card, etc. Pay off all your loans. Don’t use the internet! Get an OLD CAR or a bicycle. Get off of cable. Use cash, or better yet, barter.
UNPLUG from everywhere. Until you do, you are giving up your precious freedom for NOT SECURITY but for CONVENIENCE. Which, as I think about it, is pretty pathetic.
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Government is not tracking you. This is a private company (Unacast) with a very questionable model trying to sell its services to the government. This is not even close to hard science. It is all estimation based on the company’s very subjective data. I would not put too much stock in the numbers. (People will fall for numbers and Unacast knows that).
If you are really worried about being “tracked” you are on the wrong planet.Private companies know 10 times more about you than any government agency. I find it funny that folks worry about “big government” (which they can vote out of office) while big business collects, sells and uses tons of data about them… for free. They seem to assume that private entities (over which we have no control) should be able to collect and manipulate data and that does not infringe on their “freedom”.
Big brother is watching you. But “Big Brother” is not the government. It is the CEO trying to sell you green underwear and roses and vitamins and bicycles, etc. Big brother already has your data. And nothing you can do about it.
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Is it significant when a blog devoted to discussing significant political events for NY 23rd district has for over 12 days made no mention of protest in the district? There were protests in Penn Yan, Geneva, Ithaca, Elmira yet this blog is silent.
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