How COVID-19 Affects the Largest Cities, Bridging Digital Divides, and More.

April 3, 2020

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America’s economic powerhouses are coping with the greatest burdens of the coronavirus pandemic. A new analysis from Mark Muro, Jacob Whiton, and Robert Maxim shows that the 50 hardest-hit U.S. counties support more than 60 million jobs and $7.4 trillion in economic output, accounting for 30% of the nation’s employment and 36% of its GDP.

There are persistent and widespread digital divides across the United States. In her new photo essay, Nicol Turner Lee writes about her experience investigating these divides across 10 cities, and concludes that government, the private sector, and civil society need to get creative on approaches to ensure equitable digital access in rural America.

With COVID-19 spreading rapidly across the United States, it’s only a matter of time before police forces start buckling under the virus. Accompanying a new policy brief, an op-ed by Brookings President John R. Allen, Michael O’Hanlon, John Donohue, Rick Fuentes, and Paul Goldenberg argues that the U.S. armed forces should be prepared to fill in.

The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars.

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