How COVID is making Americans worry about their next meal

by Michelle Tran

More Americans than ever are going hungry. Pre-pandemic 37 million suffered from food insecurity, but that number is growing due to COVID-19. Diane Whitmore Schazenbach, director of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University, researches the link between surging food insecurity and COVID. She says, “The amount of need we’ve seen is staggering. I just never expected to see anything like this.”

Food insecurity does not only affect people experiencing material poverty or people without homes. The USDA defines food insecurity as “a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.” Food-insecure individuals have limited access to nutritious foods and may not have the means to travel far to a grocery store. They may also be forced to eat food that doesn’t support their health. According to NPR they may live in areas called food swamps filled with “fast food and junk food; what’s available is high in calories, sodium, and sugar.” While these neighborhoods may be lined with McDonald’s, these fast-food joints cannot provide nutritious foods for healthy development. Yet, residents are forced to rely on them because other options are inaccessible.

The financial stress of COVID negatively impacts food insecurity. Elaine Waxman of the Urban Institute notes, “Food insecurity is really sensitive to income jolts.” Many food-insecure individuals are low-wage workers with costly expenses. Others experienced blows to household income including paying for hospital bills and losing streams of income from the death of loved ones. Some lost jobs or can’t work because they are high-risk.

The number of SNAP recipients also increased rapidly since February 2020. SNAP benefits are monthly supplements used for purchasing nutritious foods to improve its recipients health. SNAP approved 6-7 million more people since February. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities calls this seventeen percent increase “unprecedented.”

Those in need are turning to food banks in enormous numbers. Brenda Ann Keneally, a photographer documenting American families facing food insecurity, found food banks that “stretched to hundreds of cars, some carrying people who had never sought food assistance before.” The Salvation Army reported an 84 percent increase in the number of boxes distributed at their drive-through pantries in comparison to last year. 

More people than ever are anxious about where to get their next meal while local food pantries struggle to keep communities fed. Susan E. Goodell, CEO of an El Paso food bank says, “It’s a constant effort to figure out how to feed 138,000 a day. We have to be very creative. It’s incredibly stressful when you come to work, and you see miles of cars of people waiting for food and you only have one-and-a-half days [worth] in the food bank.” Food banks shouldn’t have to get creative to keep Americans from starving. Donate food, funds, or your time to ensure that our neighbors are not going hungry. The last thing anyone should have to worry about during a pandemic is the next time they can feed themselves and their families.

Bibliography

Bondy, Halley. “This Is What Hunger Looks like in COVID-19 America.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 6 Oct. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/know-your-value/feature/what-hunger-looks-covid-19-america-ncna1242271.

“Definitions of Food Security.” USDA ERS - Definitions of Food Security, 9 Sept. 2020, www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/definitions-of-food-security.aspx.

Deparle, Jason. “Why Hunger Can Grow Even When Poverty Doesn't.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 28 July 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/us/politics/coronavirus-hunger-poverty.html.

Kenneally, Brenda Ann, and Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. “America at Hunger's Edge.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Sept. 2020, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/02/magazine/food-insecurity-hunger-us.html.

Pearson, Elsa. “OPINION: Obesity Is Linked To Food Insecurity. SNAP Cuts May Make Both    Worse.” NPR, NPR, 16 Dec. 2019, www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/12/16/787793287/opinion-obesity-is-linked-to-food-insecurity-cutting-snap-benefits-may-worsen-bo.

Segers, Grace. “‘Staggering’ Need: COVID-19 Has Led to Rising Levels in Food Insecurity across the U.S.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 14 Oct. 2020, www.cbsnews.com/news/staggering-need-covid-19-has-led-to-rising-levels-in-food-insecurity-across-the-u-s/.