Coronavirus: impact on online usage in the U.S. - Statistics & Facts
From school lessons and office work to physical exercise and doctors’ appointments - more aspects of people’s daily social and professional lives are moving online as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This trend is particularly visible in the United States, where the number of confirmed infections has been on a steady rise since early 2020. While the U.S. government has not yet imposed a nationwide lockdown, the population is advised to stay at home, self-isolate, or shelter in place, while most states and localities have already issued school and public business closures in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. Hence, millions of Americans are now turning to technology for communication, entertainment, and work, causing an unprecedented spike in data traffic. The first weeks of March saw an 18 percent increase in in-home data usage compared to the same period in 2019, with average daily data usage rates exceeding 16.6 GB.
