Food Insecurity and COVID-19: Disparities in Early Effects for US Adults

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased food insecurity in the United States (US). The objective of this study was to understand the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic among low-income adults in the US as social distancing measures began to be implemented. On 19-24 March 2020 we fielded a national, web-based survey (53% response rate) among adults with <250% of the federal poverty line in the US (N = 1478). Measures included household food security status and COVID-19-related basic needs challenges. Overall, 36% of low-income adults in the US were food secure, 20% had marginal food security, and 44% were food insecure. Less than one in five (18.8%) of adults with very low food security reported being able to comply with public health recommendations to purchase two weeks of food at a time. For every basic needs challenge, food-insecure adults were significantly more likely to report facing that challenge, with a clear gradient effect based on severity of food security. The short-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are magnifying existing disparities and disproportionately affecting low-income, food-insecure households that already struggle to meet basic needs. A robust, comprehensive policy response is needed to mitigate food insecurity as the pandemic progresses.

Keywords: covid-19; disparities; food insecurity; low-income adults; survey.

Figure 1

Ability to comply with recommendation to stock up on two weeks of food among low-income US adults, by food security status (n = 1478). Question text: “Experts have recommended stocking up on two weeks of food for your household to prepare for the coronavirus. Have you been able to do this? [Please check all that apply. One respondent was missing data for this question and was excluded from analysis. Differences within each response option by food security status are significant at p < 0.001 based on chi-squared tests.

Figure 2

Challenges encountered by low-income US adults as a result of COVID-19, as of 19–24 March, by food security status (n = 1478). Question text: “Have you experienced any of the following challenges due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) so far?” [Please check all that apply] Percentages reflect the percent of respondents in each food security category that said they encountered that problem. Ten percent of respondents (n = 161) did not indicate any of the response options were challenges for them and are counted as ‘missing’.