Disclaimer: The blog below is a work product produced by the result of independent student research efforts and discussion among FIT Research Club members. Any information included does not, and is not intended to, constitute expert advice. The opinions expressed within the content below are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Houston, the University of Houston Honors College, or UH Bonner Leaders.
Written By: Sam Tran
Introduction: The contents of this blog detail the initial damages of COVID-19 on student lunches and what measures have been taken to address such damages. Furthermore, given pre-existing food insecurity issues among children, the blog aims to highlight the challenges that students nationwide face on a daily basis during COVID-19.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools and businesses across the nation have closed in response to health concerns. Such closures have greatly disrupted ordinary life for all people, however this blog’s main focus is the pandemic’s effects on child nutrition through school meals. In 2019, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), along with the School Breakfast Program (SBP), delivered approximately “45 million” (Kinsey, et al., 2020) daily to students at either little to no cost. With unemployment skyrocketing, an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, many families have seen this past year to be financially detrimental. As a result, it can be expected that many more students are in need of reduced or free meals by services such as the NSLP and SBP. In order to compensate and address the growing need for meal distribution among students, “The Families First Coronavirus Response Act gave the USDA authority to issue nationwide waivers to school meal regulations” (Kinsey, et al., 2020). These waivers enabled states to more freely decide “where and how” (Kinsey, et al., 2020) schools could distribute meals amid closures. Not only did these waivers loosen federal level regulations, but the waivers also allowed for better/easier means of accessing distributed meals, such as extended application times and being able to pick up without a child in the car.
One of the most noticeable effects of these waivers in FIT service are the Backpack Buddies events. Such events as these allow for bulk distribution of goods rather than single items. The degree as to which the mentioned services are needed can be seen in Maryland’s statistics. “Beginning the week of March 16 (week 1 of school closures), Maryland school districts served 313,244 breakfast and lunch meals. In the following week, the number of meals served nearly doubled. By weeks 6 and 7 of school closures, districts were serving nearly 1 million breakfast and lunch meals weekly.”(Kinsey, et al., 2020). Applying the general trends of this data to states such as Texas, California, or Florida help to picture the extent to how necessary food aid for students really is. However, it is important to note, though the number of meals has drastically increased, the number of students who are missing meals are drastically rising as well. There is much to be addressed as food insecurity itself, in any sector, is never eradicated. Therefore, from this continued pandemic, we see many preexisting complications come to light further than before.
Citation
Kinsey, Eliza W., et al. “The American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) from the American Public Health Association (APHA) Publications.” American Public Health Association (APHA) Publications, 7 Oct. 2020, ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305875.