ArticleHealth economics2022
Does providing free internet access to low-income households affect COVID-19 spread?
Article in Health economics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Broadband internet access as a social determinant of health in the early COVID-19 pandemic in U.S. counties.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- Does providing free internet access to low-income households affect COVID-19 spread?Health economics · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This paper evaluates whether a policy of providing free, in-home Internet for lower-income households can reduce COVID-19 case rates among those households. Using data from a pilot program in Toronto, we find that deploying free public WiFi in large apartment blocks within a low-income neighborhood leads to a 14.4% reduction in weekly cases in that neighborhood. Having in-home WiFi reduces the propensity of residents to visit businesses in the arts, entertainment, and recreation category, suggesting that WiFi benefits residents by providing in-home substitutes for leisure activities.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.