Coronavirus

Cell Phone Data Tracks Travelers From Las Vegas

Companies tracked cell phone data over four days in mid-July at ProPublica's request.

Cell Phone Data Tracks Travelers From Las Vegas
John Locher / AP
SMS

Cell phone data shows tens of thousands of people crowding on the Las Vegas Strip and traveling all over the country. The number of coronavirus cases in the Las Vegas area skyrocketed after casinos reopened on June 4.  

Companies tracked cell phone data over four days in mid-July at ProPublica's request. Here's what they found: A large white spot in the middle of a map of the Western U.S. shows the the density of people on the Strip. ProPublica reports some 26,000 devices were tracked on the Strip over that four-day period. 

And a map of the country shows those visitors traveled to every state in the contiguous U.S. except Maine. Experts tell ProPublica this data shows why the virus keeps spreading.