![]() In recent decades, digital access has also gained attention as an important factor modulating health outcomes, as individuals harness the internet to seek health information and to access healthcare services (i.e., telehealth, online pharmacy) 8. Despite pandemic-driven efforts to close the long-term and emergent health equity gap 2, studies during the COVID-19 pandemic have demonstrated that socioeconomically and environmentally disadvantaged subpopulations have been disproportionately and negatively affected by the disease 4, 5, 6, with threefold higher infection rates and sixfold higher death rates in predominantly Black US counties than in white counties 7. Socioeconomic and environmental factors play a significant role in the health and well-being of individuals and communities 1, 2, 3. Such differences frame important questions on the relationship between differential information search behaviors and the downstream real-world implications on more and less advantaged populations. ![]() We show that ZIP codes with higher proportions of Black or Hispanic residents intensified their access to unemployment resources to a greater extent, while revealing patterns of unemployment site visits unseen by the claims data. ![]() For example, we find that ZIP codes with lower income intensified their access to health information to a smaller extent than ZIP codes with higher income. Our analysis of 55 billion everyday web search interactions during the pandemic across 25,150 US ZIP codes reveals that the extent to which different communities of internet users enlist digital resources varies based on socioeconomic and environmental factors. The COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated important changes in online information access as digital engagement became necessary to meet the demand for health, economic, and educational resources. ![]()
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