In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US states of New York and New Jersey instituted a "lockdown" that closed schools and most businesses except for essential services. The public was urged to remain at home. The 78-day lockdown period extended from 22 March 2020 to 6 June 2020. We sought to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on continuously recorded physical activity in our patients with congenital heart disease with implanted cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices—pacemakers

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... defibrillators (ICD) and implantable loop recorders (ILR) enabled with accelerometers that translate motion into a measure of active hours/day. Methods: All patients from our congenital CRM database with accelerometer-enabled devices who had stable cardiac status residing in NY and NJ were included. Forty-one patients met the inclusion criteria; the median age was 29.6 years (range 7–60); 54% female; 23 ICD, 15 PPM and 3 ILR. The patient activity was averaged for the 2 months prior to lockdown, during the lockdown, and the 2 months afterward. Paired t-tests were used to compare activity before and during lockdown, and before and after lockdown. Each patient served as his/her own control. Results: Active hours/day decreased by a mean of 32% (±27%) from baseline (p < 0.001). A total of 32 patients experienced a decline, 6 had no change and 3 had an increase. Active hours rebounded after lockdown and were unchanged compared to pre-lockdown levels. Conclusions: The COVID-19 lockdown in NY/NJ during the Spring of 2020 resulted in a significant drop in active hours/day in children and adults with congenital heart disease. Active hours/day rebounded to baseline after restrictions were lifted.