To restore the economy, we must fix America’s technology gaps: Bhaskar Chakravorti in The Hill

In addition to contract tracing, the digital experience needs fixing. Even as companies slowly return to business as usual, we’ll continue to see record numbers of people working remotely for the foreseeable future. During the peak of the surge, web traffic in San Francisco alone increased over 48 percent since the beginning of 2020. And while the internet has mostly held up, 88 out of the most populous cities critical to American productivity experienced a network slowdown by the end of March. San Jose, New York, Austin, Charlotte, Washington D.C. and Houston experienced an unacceptable 24-44 percent decline in internet speed. In aggregate, this will have significant economic costs. City governments should work with large employers to coordinate and prioritize peak-time use, much in the way municipal authorities plan for snow removal, re-routing of vehicles and synchronizing traffic lights to streamline commutes. 

Bhaskar Chakravorti, “To restore the economy, we must fix America’s technology gaps”, The Hill