State and Local

Dashboard Displays COVID-19 Disparities by County

Although COVID-19 has swept across the entire country, its burden has not been spread equally.

  • By Catherine Murrow, Futurity

Rural America Is More Vulnerable to COVID-19 than Cities Are, and It's Starting to Show

Of the top 25 COVID-19 hot spots that popped up in the last two weeks, 18 were in non-metropolitan counties.

  • By David J. Peters, The Conversation

Trump’s Attacks on Vote-by-Mail Worry Some Election Officials

For months, President Donald Trump has been one of the loudest opponents to vote by mail.

  • By The Pew Charitable Trusts

Pandemic, Civil Unrest Complicate Voting in the Nation’s Capital

Washington, D.C. is among the jurisdictions that encouraged residents to vote by mail to stay safe amid the coronavirus pandemic, but voters who came out to the polls Tuesday still encountered long lines.

  • By Andrea Noble

As Virus Keeps Kids From Schools, New Figures Show Millions Lack Home Internet

Meanwhile, a California education official this week said it would take at least $500 million to get students there the computers and internet access they need, and asked the private sector to help.

  • By Bill Lucia

‘How Could the CDC Make That Mistake?’

The government’s disease-fighting agency is conflating viral and antibody tests, compromising a few crucial metrics that governors depend on to reopen their economies. Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, and other states are doing the same.

  • By Alexis C. Madrigal and Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic

States Struggle to Get Vote-by-Mail Plans Ready in Time

Many states delayed their primaries to give election officials more time to prepare, but quickly overhauling procedures comes with real challenges. What will it all mean for the November elections?

  • By Andrea Noble

State and Federal Data on COVID-19 Testing Don’t Match Up

The CDC has quietly started releasing nationwide numbers. But they contradict what states themselves are reporting.

  • By Robinson Meyer and Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic

Did That Drone Just Tell Us to Stay 6 Feet Apart?

At least 40 law enforcement agencies across the country have used drones in the past few months for coronavirus-related purposes.

  • By The Pew Charitable Trusts

Under Social Distancing, Rural Regions Push For More Broadband

More than a fifth of Americans in rural areas lack broadband.

  • By The Pew Charitable Trusts

How Virginia Juked Its COVID-19 Data

The state is combining results from viral and antibody tests in the same statistic. This threatens to confound America’s understanding of the pandemic.

  • By Robinson Meyer and Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic

Learning from New Jersey: Why Government Organizations Should Cut Ties with COBOL

COBOL is an aging programming language and its workforce is no different.

  • By Cameron Jenkins

Ignoring Trump and Right-Wing Think Tanks, Red States Expand Vote by Mail

The Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups warn, with little evidence, that voting by mail fosters fraud. But some Republican secretaries of state reject those concerns and see no alternative to absentee voting if the pandemic persists.

  • By Jessica Huseman and Mike Spies, ProPublica

Will COVID-19 Disrupt Election Day 2020?

"We have held elections during the Civil War and during World War I despite extreme conditions, so there isn’t any precedent for this," a professor of political science said.

  • By Kristen Degroot, Futurity

Featured eBooks

The Role of Chief Data Officers
The Government's As-a-Service Future
Government Innovation in a Global Pandemic

Labor Wants Feedback on Checklist for Modernizing State Unemployment Systems

The federal agency seeks input on the mandatory guidance it released to help states prevent service disruptions as they update their technology. 

  • By Aaron Boyd

Governors, Mayor Implore Trump Administration Not to Send D.C.-Area Feds Back to the Office Prematurely

Acting too soon would endanger residents, they say.

  • By Eric Katz

States Start Hiring Battalions of Contact Tracers to Track Covid-19

As governors look to loosen coronavirus restrictions, a key benchmark will be improving the ability to track and isolate new cases. That will include more “contact tracers,” investigators who track down those who’ve come in contact with infected people.

  • By Andrea Noble

Need Help With Covid-19 Tech? This Nonprofit Connects Volunteers with Governments

The U.S. Digital Response, a new nonprofit, dispatches tech-sector volunteers to assist governments with coronavirus-related projects.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Government Secrecy Is Growing During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Local, state and federal officials throughout the United States have locked down information from the public.

  • By David Cuillier, The Conversation

Taking Risk Out of the System

A view on cybersecurity coordination from across the pond.

  • By Simon Staffell

Coronavirus Cases to Jump with Increase in Testing Capacity

Health officials said Monday that as testing shifts from public labs to commercial labs the number of coronavirus cases will increase. The insufficient testing capability has been a major criticism of the disease response.

  • By Andrea Noble