Charleston Gazette-Mail

Telemedicine has proved effective during the pandemic, keeping people with chronic health conditions away from crowds and allowing more one-on-one time between patients and caregivers, according to health professionals. But West Virginia has a connectivity problem. Without sufficient internet access, drastic health disparities will widen between the state’s most impoverished and vulnerable communities and wealthier places, said Dr. Rahul Gupta, West Virginia’s chief health officer from 2015 to 2018. It’s not just telehealth that requires sufficient broadband.

The Federal Communications Commission's recent broadband deployment report claims that seven West Virginia counties have 100-percent access to a fixed broadband connection and, overall, 82.2 percent of West Virginians have access. Rob Hinton, chairman of the West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council, which oversees broadband expansion and access in the state, said the FCC's numbers are “not even close to being correct." Hinton said the FCC's "Form 477" data isn’t expected to be a flawless measure of broadband access, but added that he thinks the data in the 2018 report is exaggerated.