American Hospital Association April 7, 2021
Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic began, I had the opportunity to meet with health care leaders and students at the University of Georgia School of Law’s 4th Annual Rural Healthcare Symposium.
Leaders and students shared that 24% of Georgia’s residents do not have broadband internet access. And while I had always known that large areas of the country, both rural and urban, lacked access to broadband or high-speed internet, I did not fully understand the implications of what that meant for these communities.
One student shared that she had to go to McDonald’s to fill out her college applications. Another participant raised concerns that since the U.S. census was going to be conducted primarily online in 2020, one-fourth of the...