How Did School Meal Access Change during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Two-Step Floating Catchment Area Analysis of a Large Metropolitan Area.

Jason Jabbari,Laura Mcdermott,Yung Chun,Pranav Nandan,Stephen Roll,Dan Ferris,Tyler Frank,Sarah Moreland-Russell

doi:10.3390/ijerph182111350

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) resulted in school closures and contingencies across the U.S. that limited access to school meals for students. While some schools attempted to provide alternative meal access points where students or parents could pick up meals, many students—especially those in low-income households—lacked adequate transportation to these access points. Thus, physical proximity to meal access points was particularly important during the pandemic. In this study, we explore how school meal access changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as it relates to race/ethnicity and socio-economic status. Taking into account both the “supply” (meal access points) and the “demand” (low-income students) for free meals, we employed a two-step floating catchment area analysis to compare meal accessibility in St. Louis, Missouri before and during the pandemic in the spring and summer of 2019 and 2020. Overall, while school meal access decreased during the spring of 2020 during the early months of the pandemic, it increased during the summer of 2020. Moreover, increased access was greatest in low-income areas and areas with a higher proportion of Black residents. Thus, continuing new policies that expanded access to school meals—especially for summer meal programs—could lead to positive long-term impacts on children’s health and well-being.

Highlights

Published: 28 October 2021On 11 March 2020, the COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World HealthOrganization (Geneva, Switzerland)
For schools located in low-income census tracts, the average proportion of students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) is 86%, compared to 39% for schools that are not located in low-income census tracts
For schools located in LILA census tracts, the average proportion of students who are eligible for FRPL is 79%, compared to 57% for schools that are not located in LILA census tracts

Summary

Introduction

Published: 28 October 2021On 11 March 2020, the COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World HealthOrganization (Geneva, Switzerland). While schools were able to offer instruction virtually, these school closures made it more difficult to serve school meals, which can promote students’ health, development, and achievement [2]. The disruptions in school meal access posed disproportionate risks to students from low-income families. For many of these students, the free and reduced-price meals they receive from school make up the majority of their diet [3]. The physical closure of schools created a barrier to accessing a basic human need for over 30 million students who participate in the national school lunch and breakfast programs in the U.S [4]

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