DEEP DIVE: Where are people in Connecticut heading this holiday season?

In this week's Deep Dive, News 12's Kristie Reeter and Caleb Silver with Investopedia take a look at the data to see where exactly people are heading with the holiday season officially underway now.

News 12 Staff

Nov 26, 2021, 12:27 PM

Updated 1,053 days ago

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In this week's Deep Dive, News 12's Kristie Reeter and Caleb Silver with Investopedia take a look at the data to see where exactly people are heading with the holiday season officially underway now. The roads will be busy this weekend with people returning home from Thanksgiving celebrations.
In a poll taken by News 12, viewers were asked: Are you planning a winter vacation? In Connecticut, 38% said maybe just staying home.
What is Google showing as people are getting their jump start on the holiday shopping and celebrating? Are they doing it already?
"Yeah, we like to look at, Kristie we like to look at the seven-day average of mobility, to and from retail and recreational locations particularly important as we head into the holidays to see if people did get that jump start on that shopping or traveling to recreational areas, and in Connecticut, it is the strongest of the tri-state areas but still not back to 2019 levels,” says Silver. “Richfield County the only major county that we track that is seeing an increase. 4.8% compared to 2019 levels. But when you look at the other counties, Hartford, New Haven and Fairfield still below 2019 levels."
When it comes to how people are getting around, what do the numbers show there?
"Yeah, not that much commuting on the rails in Connecticut, we know how important the Metro North is to get in and out of the city but also to go to city to city, county to county and across Connecticut, and those levels are still down 42% from pre pandemic levels, more people are driving around Connecticut than are using the rails as we head into the end of 2021,” says Silver.