Virus Shutdown: Time for Digital Government to Prove Itself

Source: Gov Tech Published: April 3, 2020

Wherever government offices are shuttered during the pandemic, citizens who need to interact with them, for the most part, will do so by phone, online or not at all.

For some communities, it’s a moment that years of investment in digital services have been building toward. From business licensing and permitting to relief program applications and 311 service requests, the ability of local governments to operate online is suddenly more essential than ever, and at least a few of those governments — as well as companies that serve them — are seeing investments pay off in a historic time of need.

WHAT’S ONLINE AND WHAT’S ON HOLD

Data on how different U.S. cities and counties weathered this storm may not be available for months or years, but anecdotally, some of the largest local governments are seeing a predictable wave of online traffic. For the city of Denver, spokeswoman Chelsea Warren said in an email to Government Technology that website pageviews from March 23 to March 30 increased 39 percent from the same interval in 2019. The city’s new coronavirus subsite accounted for 12 percent of the total across various articles and resource pages, and the online services page, specifically, saw a 43 percent hike in traffic compared to this time last year.