California To Provide 70,000 Laptops For Disadvantaged Students To Continue Distance Learning

Distance learning is already a challenge for many families, but for hundreds of thousands of California students without a home computer or internet, accessing remote lessons is impossible.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, announced initiatives to shrink California’s “digital divide” Monday, including more than 70,000 laptops and tablets donated by a number of tech and telecom companies. 

Half of California’s low-income families and 42% of families of color worry about distance learning because they don’t have a personal device at home, Siebel Newsom said.

“To all of these families, you have been on the governor’s and my mind every day since this crisis started,” she said. “We have your back and will continue to fight for you.”

The California Public Utilities Commission will also offer up $30 million for school districts to ensure families have internet and technology to continue remote lessons, the governor said. 

The state is eyeing a strategy by the city of Sacramento to use school buses as mobile internet hotspots for children without a connection at home. 

“If that’s successful, we’ll roll that out more broadly across the state,” Newsom said. 

Newsom also gave updated numbers on the coronavirus’ impact on communities of color. 

While he said the numbers continue to generally match the state’s demographics, black communities are being hit harder. 

• While 6.5% of California’ population is black,12% of coronavirus deaths and 7% of cases are black Californians.
• About 39% of the state’s population are Latino. Latinos make up 40% of coronavirus cases and 31% of deaths in the state.
• About 15% of the state’s population is of Asian descent. This group accounts for 13% of total cases and 16% of deaths in California.

“We know that these communities have a higher burden of illness,” said CDPH Director Dr. Sonia Angell. “That’s a reflection of poverty and racism and other things that we know have resulted in an unequitable distribution of disease.”

Communities of color tend to have higher rates of asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular conditions — underlying conditions that can lead to more severe symptoms from COVID-19.

Newsom said he “will continue to advance more prescriptive strategies” for closing racial health and economic gaps even after the pandemic ends. 

The governor said he expected to give updates on a number of issues Wednesday, from his “roadmap to recovery” and a possible timeline for reopening certain businesses to the state’s testing and tracing strategy.