COVID-19 and Food Insecurity: an Uneven Patchwork of Responses
COVID-19 and Food Insecurity: an Uneven Patchwork of Responses
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DOI：
10.1007/s11524-020-00455-5
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发表时间：
2020-06-05
影响因子：
6.6
通讯作者：
Rundle, Andrew G.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Kinsey, Eliza W.;Kinsey, Dirk;Rundle, Andrew G.
在2019冠状病毒病大流行之前，估计有14%的有孩子的家庭（1300万儿童）处于粮食不安全状态，这意味着他们获得足够食物的机会有限或不确定，无法维持健康和积极的生活方式[1]。随着学校关闭和家庭失业，粮食不安全率预计将飙升。即使是短期的粮食不安全也会对儿童的健康产生重大影响，包括行为、情绪和营养方面的不良后果。在儿童中，粮食不安全与肥胖风险增加有关[2]，这可能对慢性病发病率产生长期影响[3，4]。2019冠状病毒病大流行使面临粮食不安全的家庭用来养活自己的复杂战略变得复杂甚至无效。除了增加补充营养援助计划（SNAP）的福利外，迫切需要协调努力以确保粮食供应。为应对全国粮食不安全状况迅速加剧，国会的《家庭优先冠状病毒法案》（FFCA）做出了多项规定，以扩大联邦营养援助计划。一项关键条款使各州能够为有资格获得免费或降价学校膳食的儿童的家庭发放流行病电子膳食替代福利（P-EBT），相当于每个儿童每月约114美元的美元价值[5]。地方教育当局也能够使用美国农业部夏季膳食计划的喂养做法，以确保儿童在学校关闭期间获得足够的营养。然而，正如其他地方所指出的，联邦缺乏在COVID-19爆发期间安全执行喂养计划的指导方针，许多学区没有夏季喂养计划的经验[6]。此外，作为紧急措施，各州可以将SNAP拨款增加到最高福利金额。然而，目前，250万有子女的家庭已经获得了最大限度的福利，各州不允许将福利水平提高到超过这一最大限度。作为回应，联邦指导提高SNAP福利上限，就像在大衰退期间根据《美国再投资和复苏法案》所做的那样，对于确保数百万低收入儿童获得充足的营养和长期健康结果至关重要。然而，增加SNAP福利虽然至关重要，但无法解决低收入家庭在大流行期间获得食物时面临的许多障碍。经济上不安全的家庭所采用的复杂和战略性的食品购买模式已被COVID-19危机所颠覆[7]。许多低收入家庭访问多个食品商店寻找最实惠的产品，经常长途跋涉购买食物[7]。对于许多依赖公共交通或拼车服务的城市家庭来说，这些战略性的食品购物技巧现在风险要大得多。组https：//doi. org/10.1007/s11524-020-00455-5
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 14% of families with children (13 million children) were food insecure, meaning they had limited or uncertain access to enough food for a healthy and active lifestyle [1]. With schools closed and families out of work, food insecurity rates are expected to skyrocket. Even shortterm food insecurity can have significant impacts on children’s health, including poorer behavioral, emotional, and nutritional outcomes. Among children, food insecurity has been linked to increased risk of obesity [2], which can have long-term consequences for chronic disease morbidity [3, 4]. The COVID-19 pandemic complicates or even nullifies the complex strategies that families facing food insecurity use to feed themselves. In addition to increasing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, coordinated efforts to ensure food access are desperately needed. In response to the rapid increase in food insecurity across the country, Congress’ Families First Coronavirus Act (FFCA) made a number of provisions to expand federal nutrition assistance programs. One key provision enables states to issue pandemic electronic mealreplacement benefits (P-EBT) for households with children eligible to receive free or reduced-price school meals, which amounts to a dollar value of roughly $114 per child a month [5]. Local educational authorities are also enabled to use feeding practices from the USDA’s summer meals programs to ensure children receive adequate nutrition during school closures. However, as noted elsewhere, federal guidelines for executing feeding programs safely amidst the COVID-19 outbreak are lacking, and many school districts do not have experience with summer feeding programs [6]. Additionally, states are allowed to increase SNAP allotments up to the maximum benefit amount as an emergency measure. However, at this time, 2.5 million households with children already receive the maximum benefit and states are not allowed to increase benefit levels beyond that maximum. In response, federal guidance to raise the SNAP benefit ceiling, as was done during the Great Recession under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, is critical for ensuring adequate nutrition and long-term health outcomes for millions of low-income children. However, increasing SNAP benefits, while essential, will not address many of the barriers low-income families are facing in acquiring food during the pandemic. The complex and strategic food shopping patterns financially insecure families employ have been upended by the COVID-19 crisis [7]. Many low-income households visit multiple food stores in search of the most affordable products, often traveling long distances to acquire food [7]. For many urban households reliant on public transit or rideshare services, these strategic food shopping techniques are now much riskier. Group https://doi. org/10.1007/s11524-020-00455-5