COVID-19 has exposed and amplified the digital inequities faced by millions of households who before the pandemic were already facing severe hardships. As schools closed in response to the pandemic, some students lacked reliable access to the internet at home and struggled to stay connected and engaged in their education. In a 2018 Pew Research Center survey, 17 percent of students ages 13 to 17 said they are often or sometimes unable to complete homework assignments because they did not have access to a computer or an internet connection.

Also, digital health care became the norm as medical practitioners adopted digital technologies such as video visits—or telehealth—to screen, diagnose, and treat ailments and carry out triage. Yet many patients were unable to access telehealth at home because of poor internet connectivity, technical challenges, or a simple lack of modern communication devices. According to a KFF analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey, almost 20 percent of people age 65 and older lacked internet access at home, which, coupled with inexperience with technology and physical disabilities, impaired their ability to access telehealth services during the pandemic.

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