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Data Company Tracks Who's Staying In During Pandemic

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CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Illinois public heath officials have been telling us that we're doing better than many other states in social distancing.  

But how do they know that?


There's a company called Cuebiq headquartered in New York that has an office in Chicago.

Cuebiq has teamed up with about 80 apps you might have on your phone to track you.

Brennan Lake is senior director of Data for Good for Cuebiq.

"When a smart phone user downloads an app for location-based services, that's at the core of the app. For instance, like a navigation or a weather app, they can decide to opt in to share their location data anonymously."

Lake says in Illinois, Cuebiq has determined through its tracking that people here are on the move 41 percent less than they were in 2019. In total, it tracks 15 million devices nationwide.