A slight correction: according to some measurements that I found [1], the ambient illumination during totality is roughly 2-5 lux, which is "only" about 45dB below normal. (Full daylight is about 10^5 lux.)

I started researching this a few weeks ago after seeing a Reddit comment asking (paraphrased) "my house is just a couple miles outside the path of totality, is it really worth the trouble of finding a different spot to view the eclipse?" The answer is that even at 99.5% occlusion, the sky is still hundreds of times brighter than complete totality.

[1]: http://www.strickling.net/sofi_eng.htm