Connectivity and COVID-19 in the United States: How Broadband Connectivity has Played a Role in the Coronavirus Pandemic

Abstract

With the spread of COVID-19, our reliance on broadband connection has increased dramatically as schools switched to virtual instruction, offices turned to remote work, and doctors moved their appointments to telehealth visits. This paper looks at factors, specifically broadband access, that influenced state and county level reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic. These results provide supporting evidence to previous works that income and density have a positive relationship with COVID-19 infection rates. Although it has a positive correlation with income, findings show that broadband proves to be a factor that possesses an inverse relationship to infection rates. This study also shows the significant impact of the governor’s political party affiliation regarding the issuance of stay-at-home orders and the percentage of those infected in their counties. Knowing the influential factors and demographic differences of the spread of COVID-19 can help prevent rapid spread in the event of another major outbreak.