Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke is urging city residents to continue social distancing as data shows suburban areas are nearing pre-coronavirus traffic levels.
Data from traffic cameras across the city show that traffic in large suburban areas is returning to pre-coronavirus levels as businesses continue to reopen, indicating a decrease in social distancing among many Chattanoogans.
“I’m concerned about this, particularly with the numbers that we’re seeing,” Berke said on a call with reporters Friday, at the end of the two worst weeks of case growth in Hamilton County since the virus began. “If you look at what Centers for Disease Control recommendations are, if you go back and see what our Restart Task Force put together, it was all premised on the idea that you slowly loosen restrictions, and only do so as cases are able to either stay the same or go down. That’s not our situation right now, and so I’ll just say that we’ve got to really be diligent about this, particularly as things are opening up even more.”
According to the city’s data, daily traffic in each of eight monitored areas across the city – four suburban and four downtown – dropped by around 50% between mid-March and mid-April as the virus arrived in Chattanooga and in the city, and later the state, shut down certain gatherings and businesses to lessen the spread.
While daily averages in the downtown areas – 4th Street and Market Street, 4th Street and Chestnut Street, 4th Street and Georgia Avenue, and Market Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard – were still down by about 40%, with slight increases in early May as businesses have reopened, other areas are seeing much faster increases.