The Hoxsie intersection may always have traffic, and the Apponaug rotary seems like it’s always busy. With all these cars on the road, it sure doesn’t feel like the COVID pandemic is still a public health crisis. So are Rhode Islanders still staying home?

According to a report by Quote Wizard, the number of Rhode Islanders staying home increased by 28 percent from January 2020 to January 2021, but that is changing according to more recent data.

Quote Wizard, a branch of LendingTree, examined data compiled by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) to determine a change in resident mobility between 2020 and 2021.

The trips by distance data and number of people staying home and not staying home are estimated for the BTS by the Maryland Transportation Institute and Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory at the University of Maryland.

The BTS defines trips as movements that include a stay of longer than ten minutes at an anonymous location away from home. All modes of transportation were taken into consideration, including driving, rail, public transit, and air. BTS calculated these trips based on mobile device data from multiple sources.

According to BTS data, trips in Rhode Island during the week of March 15, 2020 were down 19.4 percent, while trips during the week of March 29, 2020 were down 40.2 percent. Trips taken during the week of March 15, 2021 are still down 7.1 percent as compared to the previous year.

According to the Rhode Island Department of Revenue, taxes collected on motor fuel are down 11.4 percent from January 2020 to January 2021.

Across the country, trips were down in April 2020 but saw a large spike in May and June 2020.

Trips per capita began to fall shortly after the first U.S. confirmed COVID case in January 2020, however, travel remained relatively high until a series of statewide stay-at-home orders were issued, according to Quote Wizard. When states began phased reopening plans in May 2020, a dramatic increase in travel was recorded.

In Rhode Island, trips during the week of May 17, 2020 were down only 6.3 percent from the previous year.

Quote Wizard analysts also found a strong correlation between the number of people staying home and the number of COVID cases per capita. In short, states that stayed home more averaged fewer COVID cases overall.